Choices Writers Make

 Today's poster may rub some the wrong way. They might feel like it's not a choice but a blame game. 'Oh sure, blame me when things go wrong in my writing life.' It's not to make you squirm and feel bad. Far from it. 

It's realistic. We've all watched politicians put the blame on everything and everyone but themselves. No one likes to be at fault for any problem. They know that errors are a way of losing votes. Writers have only themselves to hold accountable for whatever goes wrong in their writing life. They need not worry about votes, but instead, consider readers. As a writer, we want to give our readers the best we have to offer, so we should choose wisely.

Each writer is responsible for the decisions and choices made. When all goes well, we're rather satisfied, but when it doesn't, we look to put the blame elsewhere. It's a human thing. Little children will always point a finger at another child instead of themselves. As adults, we should have learned to accept the blame when things go wrong in our writing life. 

If I choose to write an article without doing some fact-checking, and it comes back to bite me, who is to blame? Me! If I decide to send a submission to a highly touted publication, and they accept it, who is responsible? Me! I wrote well and had the gumption to submit to the publication, so I get the credit. 

Yes, we get the credit for our good choices just as we take the blame for the ones that might not be so well done. We get credit for taking time to do writing exercises to enhance our writing skills. We get the credit for carving out time to write in our busy life. And many more positive things.

Whether we get blamed or lauded, whatever we did was our choice. We cannot bring in other people or situations and point a finger at them. If you want to do some finger pointing, all you have to do is look in a mirror. 

Do we always make the right choice when it comes to our writing life? Of course not. As stated before, we're humans and humans make mistakes. The mature writer accepts the blame when a wrong choice is made, and, hopefully, he/she learns something. Then, he/she moves on.

In many posts, I offer ways to write or submit or market, and I usually say that what you do and how you do it is up to you. What I give are suggestions, but the decision to use them or not is entirely up to you.