GREEEEEEN with Jealousy

Do you have writerly jealousy? I do. And so do so many others. Recently, Maggie Stiefvater tweeted a link to The Rumpus and a question posed by An Awful Jealous Person (she also wrote a great post HERE and follow-up HERE). This Awful Jealous Person wanted to know Why not me? Why were this Person's friends and acquaintances finding success and the Person wasn't? And how should this Person deal with the jealousy that comes with others' sucess?


While the whole thing is a bit tongue-in-cheek, it comes awfully close to the truth. While we're happy when someone close to us has success, there's also a bite of jealousy, especially if they're successful in our chosen endeavor like writing. I know that whenever I read about someone younger than me getting published, a Tweep or fellow blogger finding an agent, or a friend's book hitting the shelves, jealousy nips at my heels. Sure, I'm happy for them, especially when I know I'll soon be able to read their books, but that durned jealousy dogs my steps.


Of course, I have to say that jealousy has a positive effect on me because it

KEEPS ME WRITING. 

And that's the absolute, most important thing that we KEEP WRITING. We can't let jealousy overwhelm us or bring us down. Instead, it should spur us on, pushing us to get that novel done, to send it out to agents or even to jump in and self-publish it.


So, as Dory says, "Just keep swimming, just keep swimming." (Though I'm sure she meant, "Just keep writing, just keep writing." If she had opposable thumbs, that is.)