I have a similar stories to the LWs. A taster:

- My first short film succeeding in getting production funding from the national film funding body. It had taken YEARS to get it to that level, and so it should have because we needed $120 000 of the taxpayers money to bring my and my co-writer and producers vision to the screen. A few weeks later the funding was rescinded due to policy issues the funding body was having with the government.

- My next project, an innovative (for then) documentary drama was funded by the funding body, it got rave reviews from the TV station that was going to be providing the other half of the funding and then ... the head of the TV station decided she hated it and took an executive decision, over the heads of the various committees that loved it, to cancel it.

- My first and only so far novel for a general adult audience (as opposed to for young adults who I also writer for) was accepted by a few big editors and rejected by their marketing departments. It generated excitement with a few agents in the US and UK ... and then nothing.

- The well respected publisher who accepted it promised hardback release and an intelligent marketing campaign. Three weeks out from deadline they began pressuring me to substantially change the storyline (taking out an abortion scene) and then cancelled hardback release and 'dumbed the book down' in the cover art and promotion. Not only that they assigned the worlds worst publicist to the book, she also was the receptionist for the publicity department which tells you something, who booked me in for radio sports shows, and when I spoke at a writers festival there were no copies provided for people to buy afterwards.

There have been some good things too - books published, awards won, people like my agent staying loyal to me. But so far these experiences are far outweighed by the bad. The ONLY reason I keep on going is for the work itself. I feel like it's my life's purpose to do this. It fascinates me every day. At the end of a day of writing I feel engaged in a way that nothing else comes close to - and I mean nothing. When I look forward to a lifetime of writing I resist the urge to smoke or drive tooo fast because I really want to live a long long time.

My point? Well partly it's therapuetic to list all that, but also, I'm discovering here that this experience is common. I didn't know that. And it's hell. Pure hell.

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