You only need to look at social media, read the news, talk to your neighbors, for half a second to see an overall pessimism about the world.
This goes ten fold for life after Covid, but people have always had this pessimism. Everyone has always been trying to save the world from all kinds of things. We humans are wired to be on the lookout for threat – it makes total evolutionary sense. But in our lives now, that negativity bias has become so normalized that most people can’t see how it’s destroying us more than it’s saving us.
The world’s most prominent news voices are almost one hundred percent reporting on negative situations, and any situation that could be considered neutral has a negative spin. Does positive news even make it into mainstream news anymore? No, because we pay attention to bad news (remember the negativity bias?), and in media, attention paid equals money paid.
Our preoccupation with pessimism has been commodified.
It’s no wonder we’re falling into this hole of gloom and confusing it with reality.
There’s a sentiment pervading that negativity, that pessimism, that more gloomy end of thinking is more real, more serious, more adult.
We label an optimistic attitude as naivety. Optimists are called “Pollyannas” and told they don’t understand what’s happening in the world, that they’re out of touch.
It’s not true.
None of it’s true.
Pessimism and The Writer’s Life
Pessimism extends into the writing community, too. Often it’s in such a way we don’t even see it.
How many times have you heard the following (or similar) statements?
Is hard to get a publishing deal.
Corporations (like Amazon, or any other corporate publisher) are giving writers a raw deal.
You can only sell books if you spend thousands on advertising.
Most writers won’t be able to make a living writing.
Most books get pulped.
Scammers have made indie publishing practically impossible to break into.
You can’t be a successful indie unless you’re writing twenty books a year.
Most authors don’t get published.
Most writers don’t even finish their books, let alone get published.
It’s practically impossible to make any life in the arts. Get an actual job.
A.I is writing books now. What’s the point?
“Writing is easy – you just sit down at the type write and bleed.” A pithy quote, often recited with a wry smile, that has a deep violence and pessimism in its core.
And what happens when we do say something positive about the author’s life? We call it a “humble brag” or we apologize for “shameless self promotion.” If we call writing “easy” or “fun” then we must be doing it wrong.
We Can Tell A Different Story
What would happen if we were to stand up and start claiming different truths about writing?
That writing is actually fun, that it makes us feel good?
What would happen if we let positivity actually help us with our writing?
What if we stood up proudly and said, “I wrote 1000 words today and they’re really great, and I love this story I’m working on.” Instead of the usual “I wrote 1000 words today, but they’re really rough and I can’t wait to finish. I’m gonna go watch Netflix and cry because anything is better than writing.”
What if we treated writing with optimism?
Would it get easier?
Would the words flow more freely?
Without the pressure of fearing the negative, what would you create if you made joy the core purpose of your work?
What if we all started looking at the entire world like this? Not through “rose-colored glasses” because that implies we’re looking at an inaccurate filter. But what if we started paying as much attention to all the good in life? At least with an equal focus as we do its opposite..
This does not mean pretending bad stuff isn’t happening in the world, not pretending that trouble and pain don’t exist, or glossing over them. Rather, what if we started treating ourselves with a positive touch, empathy, remembering that even faced with the worst even the most dismal sides of humanity, there are still and always be things to be positive about.
It’s brave to be optimistic.
Optimism goes against the mainstream.
It’s also the only position that has any actual use in the world.
Pessimism and doom tell us that everything is screwed. Why bother trying?
Optimism tells us that anything is possible, that hope is alive, so let’s reach for the heavens.
In the long view of life, the turning of history, humanity is in the best position we’ve ever been in. We know more than ever, as for every generation, but that rate of knowledge expands exponentially and more people than ever before have access to it. This means we have the knowledge to fix our problems, medicines, environmental strategies, social reforms. Literacy is at an all-time high, we live longer than ever in a much higher quality of life. This isn’t to say that horror doesn’t happen, and it doesn’t matter when it does. It’s just hope. And hope is the most powerful sentiment we have.
There are more books in the world than ever, and more authors. We can write and publish a book to a global audience and in minutes, have that story in someone’s hands. How amazing is that? Every day there are new tools to improve that process, to help us get our words before more readers, in so many ways. It’s beautiful!
So try it.
Look around at what people are saying about the author life, on a personal level and in the wider industry.
Can you counter all that doom with a ray of sunshine?
What negative things are you saying about your own author life? Your writing, or your publishing? How much negative spin are you unintentionally putting on your own experiences? What happens if you tilt that spin into the positive?
What if you dare to have fun?
What if you dare to love what you’re working on?
And what if you dare to let that be enough?
