Disappointment = "I'm gonna...take a bath..."

[Zero Angel]

So how much disappointment can you guys handle in a day/week/month?

Sometimes I find it too much to handle personally (in spite of my dreams of having infinite HP, I find I end up passing out with my equipment stolen far too often...)

The title refers to how Keiichi feels in this clip after being "helped":

[video]www.youtube.com/watch?v=rTKRnLygh9c[/video]
Time 4:40 to 5:31 (couldn't find a better clip, apologies! skip ahead to 4:40 to see the beginning of the scene)

Sometimes you just have to reset!

Usually I am good to go the next day, but occasionally I need longer. What about for all of you?

 

[Philip Overby]

I'm assuming since this is in Writing Questions you mean disappointment when it pertains to writing? I'm pretty disappointed in my language learning efforts, that's for sure...

I have spurts of "greatness," I suppose. I may have a really good writing day and crank a lot out. Then I may have a slower day where I work on short stories because my novel isn't going the way I want. I try to force myself to push through most of the time, but lately I haven't been following my own advice. I tend to go in waves. I don't think anyone has awesome writing days everyday. The main thing is just to remain focused on your goals and try to make them. My current goal is to finish my 1st draft of my WIP by the end of October. If I can do that, I'll be happy. Even if I have disappointments along the way, at least at the end I'll have a sense of relief. Then comes editing...ugh.

So yeah, I do believe a reset is important now and again, but not too much. I think a lot of people get disappointed and come up with something new and then have an endless cycle something like this:

1. Idea!
2. Excitement
3. Hard work
4. Slowing...down...
5. Ugh
6. I hate this
7. Oh, new idea!
8. Return to number 2

Rinse and repeat. You have to be careful not to fall into this cycle.

 

[CupofJoe]

Anything in particular you want to share?
Personally I use meditation to try and remove the stress and emotion from events.
In sports psychology I think it's called "removing the inner chimp".
It doesn't always work but it can give me that beat or two to think and then react to life.

 

[Aidan of the tavern]

If I'm really badly disappointed I just let myself become an unpleasant, lazy human being, sleeping late, drinking too much coffee, and lounging around in front of a screen waiting for my inspiration to come back home. It's not productive I know, but it lets me shut myself off and just do whatever I feel like doing until I "rejuvenate".

 

[Zero Angel]

The main thing is just to remain focused on your goals and try to make them. My current goal is to finish my 1st draft of my WIP by the end of October.

I am TERRIBLE with deadlines. I don't know that I've ever met one. Now I just work as long as I can as much as I can and let the pieces fall where they may.

I agree with you about that cycle. It is easy to fall into and if you do then you might never finish anything. Unless it is an old idea that inspires you to finish it.

Anything in particular you want to share?
Personally I use meditation to try and remove the stress and emotion from events.
In sports psychology I think it's called "removing the inner chimp".
It doesn't always work but it can give me that beat or two to think and then react to life.

Nothing in particular really. I thought being rejected from agents, publishers and online magazines was bad enough, but now I feel like everyday is a rejection with my book being on sale -_-

Meditation definitely helps when you have time. I was much more serene back when I used to do yoga--no time for it anymore, although I still get an hour or so of meditation a week at church.

 

[Steerpike]

Zero Angel:

I'm interested in how the book does at that price point. I've moved my own price up and down a few times to try to gauge different effects.

Also, and I hope you will interpret this in the spirit it is given - you have one review that says "the 21st Century Lord of the Rings" and another that says "Dare I say better than Lord of the Rings?" You're going to get a couple of reactions to that, in my view. The first is that people are going to write off the reviews as written by friends and family members and I think it could actually hurt sales, because every review for the work will be suspect. The second reaction is to create an extremely high and maybe unrealistic expectation of the sample - if they click it and the sample doesn't live up to that they immediately get a negative impression, whereas without such grand statements they might have viewed the exact same sample favorably.

This isn't a commentary on the work - it may very well be the next awesome epic fantasy (and I hope it is), but when you start seeing comments comparing your work favorably or better than what is arguably the best loved and best-known fantasy epic of all time, it makes me a bit nervous.

 

[Zero Angel]

Zero Angel:

I'm interested in how the book does at that price point. I've moved my own price up and down a few times to try to gauge different effects.

Also, and I hope you will interpret this in the spirit it is given - you have one review that says "the 21st Century Lord of the Rings" and another that says "Dare I say better than Lord of the Rings?" You're going to get a couple of reactions to that, in my view. The first is that people are going to write off the reviews as written by friends and family members and I think it could actually hurt sales, because every review for the work will be suspect. The second reaction is to create an extremely high and maybe unrealistic expectation of the sample - if they click it and the sample doesn't live up to that they immediately get a negative impression, whereas without such grand statements they might have viewed the exact same sample favorably.

This isn't a commentary on the work - it may very well be the next awesome epic fantasy (and I hope it is), but when you start seeing comments comparing your work favorably or better than what is arguably the best loved and best-known fantasy epic of all time, it makes me a bit nervous.

It does OK, but I don't know that anything would be "non-frustrating" to me. I could not justify charging less than a mass-market paperback.

As far as the reviews, I was a little alarmed at them as well. I have always said that my books are more of a *reaction* to Lord of the Rings than in the style of Lord of the Rings. I hated Tolkien's style. I think the people that wrote those are not fantasy people and that was the only thing they could compare it to. I wish they had said, "like the Lord of the Rings movie." I at least wouldn't have cringed when I read it.

I don't know who wrote the Nook review too, but they compared it to the bloody Arabian Nights. I was like, " I haven't read anything from the Arabian Nights since I was five!"

The only review I really like on there is the one that doesn't mention Lord of the Rings at all: www.amazon.com/review/

It's not just saying "this is good buy it" but is actually talking about the book itself. I just wish more people found it "helpful" so that it would move up the list of reviews.

I do agree though. Unless I actually had the sales to back up those reviews, I think they hurt more than they help. I'm almost hoping for a 3 or 4 star review just so people can say, "Oh that one's probably not fake". At least they are all Amazon Verified Purchases though.

 

[Steerpike]

Zero Angel:

I agree. I liked the review you linked quite a bit - in fact, that is the review that would be most likely to persuade me to buy the book. I'm going through books from MS members, and I'll get to yours as well. I'm looking forward to it, in fact. Just slow going for me at the moment!

 

[Lorna]

I find the way to avoid heart break is to make sure you have your fingers in more than one pie. I see it as having a safety net for if your main hope and aspiration falls through.

I had my heart set on finishing the first novel of my fantasy trilogy by the end of this year but after running my third draft by other people have come upon some major problems meaning I start almost from scratch again. I could be looking at least another year until completion. It's frustrating but it happens.

What has saved me from being a jibbering wreck is that I also write poetry and stories about my local area, research myth and still have many books on my shelf unread. I also walk, cycle and meditate outdoors. I find at times of disappointment and frustration it's good to get out and live your own adventure climbing hills, tracing rivers, visiting caves. Getting out and doing things in the landscape instead of writing about it refuels the imagination.

 

[T.Allen.Smith]

It does OK, but I don't know that anything would be "non-frustrating" to me. I could not justify charging less than a mass-market paperback.

As far as the reviews, I was a little alarmed at them as well. I have always said that my books are more of a *reaction* to Lord of the Rings than in the style of Lord of the Rings. I hated Tolkien's style. I think the people that wrote those are not fantasy people and that was the only thing they could compare it to. I wish they had said, "like the Lord of the Rings movie." I at least wouldn't have cringed when I read it.

I don't know who wrote the Nook review too, but they compared it to the bloody Arabian Nights. I was like, " I haven't read anything from the Arabian Nights since I was five!"

The only review I really like on there is the one that doesn't mention Lord of the Rings at all: www.amazon.com/review/

It's not just saying "this is good buy it" but is actually talking about the book itself. I just wish more people found it "helpful" so that it would move up the list of reviews.

I do agree though. Unless I actually had the sales to back up those reviews, I think they hurt more than they help. I'm almost hoping for a 3 or 4 star review just so people can say, "Oh that one's probably not fake". At least they are all Amazon Verified Purchases though.

As a potential reader, there are several things in your Amazon reviews, that would steer me away from purchasing your book. First, as you mentioned above, you have four reviews... all 5-star. Secondly, none of the reviewers have reviewed any other books (or even products) other than yours. Lastly, as Steerpike & yourself are already discussing, the reviews are over the top and drawing comparisons to a founder of the genre. It just rings false.

On the plus side, you have a free look inside. I'm going to start reading some MS member books soon. Maybe I'll give yours a look as well.

 

[ALB2012]

I'm assuming since this is in Writing Questions you mean disappointment when it pertains to writing? I'm pretty disappointed in my language learning efforts, that's for sure...

I have spurts of "greatness," I suppose. I may have a really good writing day and crank a lot out. Then I may have a slower day where I work on short stories because my novel isn't going the way I want. I try to force myself to push through most of the time, but lately I haven't been following my own advice. I tend to go in waves. I don't think anyone has awesome writing days everyday. The main thing is just to remain focused on your goals and try to make them. My current goal is to finish my 1st draft of my WIP by the end of October. If I can do that, I'll be happy. Even if I have disappointments along the way, at least at the end I'll have a sense of relief. Then comes editing...ugh.

So yeah, I do believe a reset is important now and again, but not too much. I think a lot of people get disappointed and come up with something new and then have an endless cycle something like this:

1. Idea!
2. Excitement
3. Hard work
4. Slowing...down...
5. Ugh
6. I hate this
7. Oh, new idea!
8. Return to number 2

Rinse and repeat. You have to be careful not to fall into this cycle.

Yep, but you forgot reading it back and going OMG

 

[Zero Angel]

Zero Angel:

I agree. I liked the review you linked quite a bit - in fact, that is the review that would be most likely to persuade me to buy the book. I'm going through books from MS members, and I'll get to yours as well. I'm looking forward to it, in fact. Just slow going for me at the moment!

Cool! I hope I don't disappoint when you get the chance.

I had my heart set on finishing the first novel of my fantasy trilogy by the end of this year but after running my third draft by other people have come upon some major problems meaning I start almost from scratch again. I could be looking at least another year until completion. It's frustrating but it happens.

That's rough! Hang in there. I don't know what I would do if that happened to me. I've had to restart novellas and stories before, but never a trilogy. That would be a bitter pill to swallow.

What has saved me from being a jibbering wreck is that I also write poetry and stories about my local area, research myth and still have many books on my shelf unread. I also walk, cycle and meditate outdoors. I find at times of disappointment and frustration it's good to get out and live your own adventure climbing hills, tracing rivers, visiting caves. Getting out and doing things in the landscape instead of writing about it refuels the imagination.

I think these are some great suggestions!

As a potential reader, there are several things in your Amazon reviews, that would steer me away from purchasing your book. First, as you mentioned above, you have four reviews... all 5-star. Secondly, none of the reviewers have reviewed any other books (or even products) other than yours. Lastly, as Steerpike & yourself are already discussing, the reviews are over the top and drawing comparisons to a founder of the genre. It just rings false.

On the plus side, you have a free look inside. I'm going to start reading some MS member books soon. Maybe I'll give yours a look as well.

Ugh, that's rough. -_- I suppose I shouldn't remind people that reviews help when they mention they read it. I hope they were sincere in their five-star appraisal, but everyone has different tastes and expects different things anyway so who knows. As I said before, I don't think the "Lord of the Rings" reviewers were fantasy fans in the first place. It is also possible one said it and the rest just jumped on the bandwagon. I'm not able to remove the reviews though, so my only hope is more people read it, enjoy it and review it.

But that's a great point. You can read the prologue and first two chapters for free and make the decision from there for yourself. I wouldn't buy a book based solely off the Amazon reviews without reading the free sample unless I knew the person.