A for effort

Joseph Caldwell

Swine-herding, he discovered, had more similarities than he had suspected to the writing of a novel: an unremitting commitment, an unrelenting discipline, an uncertain outcome, and, ultimately, the unpredictable prospects when the time for marketing arrived.

Joseph Caldwell, The Pig Goes to Hog Heaven

All writers are underrated. They're all trying to do their best. It's hard to finish a book.

Nicholson Baker, By the Book,
edited by Pamela Paul

Nicholson Baker

Writers, like everyone else, would like to receive an A for effort. One reason most authors have a low opinion of literary critics is that those critics, charged as they are with evaluating the final product, fail to appreciate the effort that went into that product. (Of course, book reviews take a bit of effort, too, even if not nearly what goes into writing the book under review.)

The above lines from novelists Joseph Caldwell and Nicholson Baker reflect the difficulties and uncertainties that go into writing a book, any book. It represents a huge investment of time for an uncertain reward. In this sense, all writers are underrated, as Baker puts it. (He later, oddly enough, makes an exception for William Shakespeare, who he says is overrated.)

Just a few pages later in his novel, Caldwell peeks into the mind of another character and has her say, "Just because I wrote a novel doesn't make me a writer. Who can't write a novel if she's got half a head?" This is a comic novel, but Larry McMurtry is serious when he says something similar in one of his memoirs. He writes about how difficult screenplays are to write but that he can turn out a novel with ease.

Perhaps when one has written as many books as McMurtry has, the process becomes easier. I suspect that most writers, however, would choose to agree with Caldwell, in his initial comment, and Baker. "Writing is hard work," they would say. "Give us a break."