One Reader is Enough

Or, lessons in divine writerly patience from Tiān Guān Cì Fú

Lately, I’ve been obsessed with the light novel series known as Heaven Official’s Blesssing, or Tiān Guān Cì Fú. I’ve only been able to get my hands on the first three 350-page tomes, but I read the most recent one in a day and have already pre-ordered the remaining two. I’m not really one of those people who pre-orders books in a series, so this is a first. Strange that it wasn’t Harry Potter or The Hunger Games that finally converted me, but an obscure Chinese story about a once glorious god who has now fallen to wandering the mortal realm collecting scraps, with only one devoted believer left to his name.

At first I thought it was just that niche intersection of paranormal queer political fiction that appeals to me, but last weekend at the Writer’s Digest Conference I heard the unstoppable Jeffrey Somers speak about the various trials and failures he experienced as a writer, and something started to click. Then we went into this week’s bizarro world in publishing, where Stephen King testified as a freelance writer and where a $100,000 advance on a novel was deemed low, sending Twitter into a justified tailspin. And my love for TGCF finally made sense.

In the creative pursuits, whether it’s writing or acting, there is a widespread myth of a steady ascent to success. But everyone, even those of us seen as successful (you’re a published author?!) are struggling with all the ways in which we’re just some once-glorious god now trolling social media looking for scraps of inspiration, hoping someone will remember our past victories, even while they seem tinier and tinier by contrast to what others are doing now.

And, if I’ve learned anything from Heaven Official’s Blessing, that’s not such a bad life… if you still have that one person who believes in you.

Image from here.

Over the last month, I’ve been feeling more creative than I have in months, if not years. All because my One Reader (in this case my editor, Caroline) has been in my corner, believing in the book I’m working on. It would be nice to see it published, of course, but nothing can take away that intense feeling of visceral connection of someone getting it and why I wrote it.

Readers are why we write. I still read every review of Driving by Starlight. It’s been 4 years since it was published, and I can think of so many things I’d have done differently. But from time to time I get to read words like these and I know that for all its failings as the first book of a novice author, DbS touches people’s hearts, which is what every author (or god) aspires to do.

Bought this book on a whim, and I have no regrets. I loved every single moment of women empowerment that is present in this book, no matter how short. My favorite line on this book was from the most unexpected person, and it is the most spectacular line I've read in the book.

I really want to know what line that was, but I’m a bit too shy to ask.

Onward. There are more books to write, scraps to collect, and hearts to touch.