OLD POST ALERT! This is an older post and although you might find some useful tips, any technical or publishing information is likely to be out of date. Please click on Start Here on the menu bar above to find links to my most useful articles, videos and podcast. Thanks and happy writing! – Joanna Penn
You can't write that.
You can't think that.
You can't imagine those things.
You don't have permission to be that person, to think like that, to write like that, to publish that.
You're a nice girl. What will people think of you?
That's my inner critic speaking, but I've also heard those words echoed from people close to me over the years. I think it's only been in the last six months that I have given myself permission to let the raw side of me loose on the page. I'm finally finding my voice.
It's scary as hell because it turns out my stories are dark and twisty, but it's also empowering and liberating to let my mind have a free rein.
But I have to keep reminding myself that I have permission to write. Or I would stay safe in the shallows.
A friend told me the other day that I've changed since I became a full time writer. But I think it's just that the inner me is finally making it to the surface after years of suppression and doing what I was supposed to do.
And how has this change in me come about?
I've been writing journals for 20 years but blogging here for nearly 5 years has changed me far more. Because clicking the Publish button has made me think more deeply about what I want to say.
Because these words are going into the world, and people may well read them.
Because I have met writers who have challenged me to go deeper.
Those of you who have been reading this blog for a long time have witnessed the change as I've shared the journey with all its ups and downs.
Clicking the Publish button on Amazon or the other distributors has the same effect. It makes us braver over time, because we have to keep bringing our best to the page and we get almost instant feedback from readers.
This is the beauty of self publishing, because we don't need permission anymore.
If I hadn't self published Pentecost four years ago, or clicked Publish on this blog, I would still be a miserable IT consultant, talking about writing but not doing it.
If I hadn't persisted through three novels, I would not be finding my voice in the fourth.
If I had asked permission, or if I had waited to be picked, I would still be dreaming of what might have been.
Of course, permission to write and self-publish doesn't mean you'll get it right the first time.
It doesn't guarantee Hugh Howey or Amanda Hocking type success.
But it shifts you inside, it forces you to go further creatively. It enables you to clear the way for the next step, and after all, the writer's life is a journey of discovery, not a destination.
So you have permission. You are empowered.
To write.
To publish.
To connect with readers and writers all over the globe.
I'm done with taming the crazy. I'm giving myself permission. How about you?
Please do leave a comment below if this resonates with you. This is our community, and I sincerely thank you for sharing it with me.
This post was inspired by an article on agent Rachelle Gardner's blog entitled ‘Will My Publisher Let Me Self-Publish Too?” which sparked a lot of passionate comment and offended me over the aspect of permission. Rachelle has since published a Mea Culpa article.
Top image: Stamp permission granted from Big Stock Photo
Wow! Joanna, I can so relate to your thoughts here. When I was much younger, I gave myself permission to write anything until I was told I “shouldn’t write that.” That began the process of my inner critic looming over the page of whatever I was writing. I began to loosen up a bit after several years until I was expected to be a “professional” with a “real job.” I began to do everything I could to prove my worth. Everything except writing. I felt guilty and selfish for taking time out for something I enjoyed so much. Now that my kids are grown and gone, I’ve gone at it full on and have never been happier. I still get flashes of guilt, but I’m better able to toss them by the wayside and carry on. And thankfully I have a supportive husband who encourages my creative side.
I really enjoy your posts. Thank you.
Can I add a note of caution. One of the comments mentioned having a contract giving the publisher right of refusal on the next book. If it’s in a contract then it has to be observed, unless ignored by mutual agreement. The solution is to make sure that the clause is not in your next contract. Strike it out before you sign it. All the moral indignation in the world is unlikely to break a legally binding agreement.
Absolutely Anthony – and it is always down to the author to make sure they know what they are signing.
Hi Joanna,
Thank you for inviting me to read your latest post – a subject I can certainly relate to!
I write in many genres including children’s picture books, adult novels, YA novels, and short stories.
It is within the short story genre that I can ‘give myself permission’ to write ‘darker’ stories, or stories that don’t sit within the norm of commercial fiction.
I’ve had several published in our literary magazine here in New Zealand, Takahe Magazine. Another is due out soon.
Sometimes these stories amaze me, and I think, ‘Did I write that?’ or, even, ‘How did I write that?’
But isn’t that what writing is all about – letting our creative minds take flight, or, as you say, giving ourselves permission to write.
You can visit my website to read the first story I ever wrote, a fishing yarn called ‘Sam’s Kingie’. This is not one of my darker stories, but a story about friendship and respect.
Cheers
Judy Lawn
A clarification to my last comment: I should have said a clause giving the publisher right of ‘first refusal’ on the next book…
Apologies.
Giving myself permission! That does resonate with me. I was working on character details and back story when it took a turn. It went a little dark into a subject that most people don’t want to think about. The details were so vivid and I thought, “What will my family think?” or my readers for that matter.
Then there’s the self publishing route. Although I have read the research and see the number of self published books on the market, I still wanna try the “old fashioned” way. I still think it’s possible, but I ask myself should I still try. I suppose I should give myself permission… at least try!
Great post. Thanks!
I don’t mean to hurt any feelings by what I’m going to write. I have written for money all my life and, now, I am writing fiction for the first time because it is what I want (perhaps have) to do.
I have read so many posts from individuals expressing gratitude that the thoughts on this post somehow give them “permission” to write what they need to write. I just don’t get it. And here’s why.
Those of us who write have been given a gift (or is it an affliction?) to express thoughts in the written form (I almost wrote “on paper”…that’s how old I am). Yet, in the comments to Joanna’s piece, I read so many statements of gratitude from writers who feel that they have been given “permission” to write what they must write. Which I judge as being pathetic.
I have no idea what percentage of the world’s population is able to write thoughts and stories which the writer hopes will impact the lives of readers. I suspect it is a small percentage.
We are not only given the ability to write stories for others to read, we are also given the stories. Where do these stories come from? From the “imagination,” or from “life experience,” or from intellectually crafted stories designed to meet the current reader hunger for a particular genre (i.e. vampires). What ever the source, the stories are ours.
How many of our readers wish they could do what we do?
My reaction to all the wimp “thank you for freeing me” is this: You have been given the ability to use words to affect others. Do It! Quit worrying, sobbing and slobbering.
Just do it!
And rejoice!!
Mike – while I am always appreciative of discussion, it’s not appropriate to dismiss other people’s truth as pathetic. The tone of this blog is positive, upbeat and supportive so while it’s great to challenge each other and spur each other on to greater things, we need to do it in a positive way. I’m leaving your comment up because I agree with your last bit – Just do it – and rejoice 🙂 Thanks, Joanna
I concur with your thoughts and sentiments. I have never fit into the resolute world of what is proper and correct, from working in construction to driving a semi tractor trailer, from teaching children to training dogs. I forged where I wanted and never looked back: right or wrong. Bowing down to piers and employers will never make a truly successful, liberate writer, even if it is only in ones own heart. Isn’t that where it needs to start anyway? More power to you and keep it going.
Joanna,
If being “given permission” works for some, fantastic, but I would suggest that another way of looking at this is that we have been given an imperative. The last agent who was interested merely in a writer’s novel died alone and forgotten long ago. Today, agents and publishers look at platform, platform, platform. What has a writer already written? Where has that writer been published? (yeah, they want you to have been published before they consider publishing you; that’s some catch that catch-22.) From this perspective, “permission” may be implied, insisted, demanded. Writers must write, must publish, must build their platform, so waiting for permission, or allowing someone else to hold us back is no longer really a viable option. We must put ourselves out there with our best work, with the best writing we can muster, and once we or they hit the “publish” button we must take that as the starting pistol for what we are going to write next. From this perspective, I would suggest self-publishing in some form is now required of writers.
If I can add a second thought, we must also be wary of the “What will happen if I publish this?” trap. I understand we must go through this line of questioning as part of the writing process: will what I write hurt someone’s feelings; will what I write damage my career? However, this path can lead us to self-censuring, to procrastinating, to not hitting “publish”. This is the exact opposite of the result we want. So I would suggest the Truth Test. A writer must ask her/himself whether what is written expresses an essential truth as honestly and successfully as that person can manage, and if that essential truth is being written because the writer needs to express this essential truth and not because sex sells or controversy sells or it’s a hot genre, etc. If a writer is honestly comfortable that what as been written is an accurate reflection of an essential truth that writer believes in, I say there is always room on a writer’s platform to publish that truth. Can a biography writer a sci-fi piece? Yes, just market it as such. Can a writer write literary genre novels? Of course. Will they be accepted as such? Not your problem. Look at Walter Mosley. His readers love his work, be it detective story, sci-fi, YA, social criticism, or literary, but literary reviewers have at times dismissed his work as genre while genre reviewers have said the same work is too literary to be genre writing. Frustrating? Yes. But Mosley has found an audience and it continues to grow not because he found a comfortable niche to hide in but because his readers recognize an artist being faithful to expressing his essential truths. I believe all writers can take strength from this on their own creative journey.
Fantastic post, thank you Joanna! I am just embarking on this journey, and continue to be inspired by your accomplishments. Thanks for all that you are doing to support the self-publishing community!
I was a bit confused about the topic of this post…until I realized that we, as members of a society, feel constrained by expectations and peer pressure. I know I get furrowed brows from friends/relatives when they ‘discover’ I’ve been writing.
So thanks for permission!
On a side note: the comments about publishers having the legal (w)right to constrain self-publishing: I’m thinking that writing (except when only for one-self) also entails some responsibility for acquiring knowledge of the business (dark-)side?
Joanna, I will check it out the website. The legalities, to me, are like grammar rules. I like to know what they are before I write or I worry and it is good to know that I can look it up if it becomes necessary.
Hi Joanna,
Yes, your piece did strike a cord with me. Permission. I withhold, actually self-censor in my writings, as I am very aware I might be scrutized by anybody who might pass on any conerns with content to my employer. I am an employee of the public service and have the responsibility to project a proper and trustworthy image to the public. I am an older worker (64) and have pretty concrete evidence that I am being observed for reasons to gett rid of me for the “new guard” of less assertive and mouldable employees. I am pretty safe responding to you, as nobody I know reads blogs with a literary theme. I have a second novel finished, but waiting until I am “free” to publish as it contains a scene taken from my work. One can’t be too careful.
Thanks for all your good tips and information about writing and publishing.
Johanna
Excellent post, Joanna. Nothing is accomplished without conviction, courage, and persistence. Consider anyone who might be a hero to you, be it an athlete, author, civic leader, historical figure. We admire them for what they accomplished with conviction, courage, persistence.
One of my hers are the pioneers who struck out for the West Coast from the east or midwest. Many considered them foolish, irresponsible, or just plan crazy to venture across uncharted territory to reach California to build new lives. They were pioneers who didn’t listen to those who said they couldn’t do it.
Writers are also pioneers, venturing into uncharted territory to reach a destination to build new lives or redefine themselves. Never listen to nay sayers or critics. They don’t have the courage to do the same.
Based on the fact that to date you have generated 188 comments on your remarks on “Permission” … (some of them but not all) quite interesting and useful, you have seemed to hit a nerve. Another little thought that novice writers might remember is, as I always counsel … “If you don’t ask, you don’t get!” As a published writer … now an eighty-five year-old geezer …and still at it … I can tell you I never would have gotten my first book contract … without following this little seven word piece of advice! Too bad that some folks are either afraid to do so … because of rear of rejection … or other reasons. Of course, being intelligent about selecting those asked does help!
Wrote a bit in High School – great reaction. Then, a few years later, with my first military experiences just over, I sat on a bit of grass with my portable typewriter on my lap and gave writing a quick try. It was immediately apparant to me that raw experience, although important,
was like a potato fresh from the garden – desperately needing something more to be enjoyable.
Now, with over five decades more of experience under my belt, I decided I’m finally ready, have completed a first book of fiction, and am deep into a second. I’d like to be read but sick of sending pages to the slush piles of elitist potatos with life experience drawn from books written by others and who have gotten ‘lucky’ about marketability a few times. Their guesses are probably no more reliable than my own. Technology has given us the gift of the internet and I, for one, plan to heed your advice and Self Publish.
Ed
Publish.
Publish. With gratitude and affection, I remain.
I needed this post today. Thank you.
I haven’t even written a blog post in almost two weeks. It’s been even longer since I posted to my personal blog. So, yeah, I really needed this push. ^_^
great blog, you’re really hit the nail on the head of one of the reasons there’s so much bad writing out there today: nobody buys good writing, so we have to cave to get our books published. Don’t cave! write well, write what you believe, be genuine!
Hi Joanna,
For years I’ve been daydreaming about all sorts of impossible scenarios, and for years people have been smiling at me fondly and saying I’m crazy. I’ve finally put pen to paper (or, fingers to keyboard) and am giving myself permission to write some of my far fetched imaginings. Suddenly, I don’t just have a wild imagination but am creative! The fun of writing is getting to say whatever we want to, rather than conforming to the normal mundane conversation that is to be had every day. Don’t hold back! I say.
Melina Grace
Joanna – my dad always told me to do exactly what I want in the world but be prepared to accept the consequences. I have discovered that writing the truth about things that certain people would rather remain hidden has earned me a lot of followers and some haters. It was when I was prepared to invest my own money ( which wasn’t a lot and came from an unexpected source) in setting up AH Men – The Musical , that things started to happen. I did not want to let anyone else fund me because then you give them the power to dictate what you are allowed to write. I don’t write to make money, I write to communicate and influence. I wouldn’t let anyone stop me doing what I was supposed to do and once I took this approach suddenly everything that I needed was there to complete the task in hand.
I don’t really understand , in this digital age, why everyone doesn’t self publish. Isn’t the most important person the one who can sell your product. It’s easy , and not that expensive to publish a book or in my case a CD. The hard thing is is selling enough to make it worthwhile. Maybe I’m missing something obvious….
You are self-publishing on CDs? Are you concerned about that there are less and less CD disk drives being bought because the desktop sales are decreasing. It might be another VHS and tablets with “WiFi” are increasing in usage. I can foresee the future of home computers to be home tablet computers with a 15-inch by 15-inch touch pad screen and “WiFi” Internet connection, requiring less power. Self-publishers have to cater their products to the technology. Download or upload viruses will be the worry so I am waiting for the “data” with tablet technology since most of the problems are because of compatibility amongst the diversity in operating systems.