What Do Writers Want?

Roxane Gay once pointed out in Salon that even successful authors are easily dissatisfied: “What most writers have in common is desire. We want and want and want and want.”

I learned this early on in my publishing career when an author I was getting to know told me about another writer whose first novel had been reviewed on the front page of the New York Times Book Review. It was subsequently a the NYT best-seller and sold about 500,000 copies—in hardcover.

That’s the kind of exposure, notoriety, and sales record most writers would kill for. My friend had lunch with this author who turned out to be miserable. Why? Because his book hadn’t been nominated for a Pulitzer Prize and he couldn’t let go of the disappointment.

I know a multi-millionaire author of thrillers whose books sell worldwide and have been made into movies--but that’s not enough. What’s missing? Respect from established literary critics. Another writer friend who spoke all across the country and taught writing workshops in Europe was once furious about not being invited to keynote a small annual writer’s conference back home in his small college town.

No matter what level of achievement writers reach, many of us just can’t stop hoping for more. Sadly, we don’t wish we were writing better books, we wish we were better known, richer, more respected, had more exposure or just had something other writers had--whatever that is. And in the end, it wouldn’t be enough, because as my Polish mother wisely said when I was growing up, “There’s no such thing as ‘enough’ in America.”

And whether you’re a newbie or established, writers’ favorite music is too often what the poet Linda Pastan calls “the song of the self.” That’s a one-voice melody running up and down the scale “like a mouse maddened/by its own elusive tail.”

No wonder we’re increasingly the target of scams from around the world.

Lev Raphael’s authored 27 books in genres from memoir to mystery and his work has appeared in 15 languages. He’s done 100s of invited talks and readings in 9 different countries. His glass has been more than half full. He’s grateful for all the fine editors he’s worked with, the writing students and editing clients he’s mentored, and es especially for a supportive spouse.

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