ITL121: A Behind-the-Scenes Tour of the Writing Process
In the Loop with Andy Andrews
Matt Lempert
4.9 • 614 Ratings
🗓️ 22 February 2014
⏱️ 23 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
A Behind-the-Scenes Tour of the Writing Process
On this week’s episode, I discuss my creative process for writing even in the midst of rejection.
The greatest book ever written is in somebody’s drawer somewhere.
- They put it out there, it got turned down a few times, and they decided to put it away.
- Gone With the Wind was rejected 34 times.
Part of my creative process is to do battle with myself quickly.
- I try not to let wondering if something is working drag me downhill.
- Publishers told me The Traveler’s Gift did not have a desirable plot and that writing good books takes effort and talent.
- After 51 rejections from professionals, the book has been successful for over 10 years.
You can either take their word and live according to their opinion, or you can reject it and look for people who are wiser in the area where you are heading.
- For most successful writers, it takes a great deal of work and almost a formula to help with the writing process.
- I’m not fired up the whole time that I’m working on a book.
- It is a very slow process for me.
Questions for Listeners
Do you have a question? Call in and your question might be featured on the show!
- Phone: 1-800-726-ANDY
- E-Mail: InTheLoop@AndyAndrews.com
- Facebook.com/AndyAndrews
- Twitter.com/AndyAndrews
Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | You're listening to In the Loop, a unique opportunity to see life from a different perspective |
| 0:06.2 | with New York Times bestselling author, Andy Andrews. |
| 0:10.1 | Now here's your host. |
| 0:12.1 | Hello and welcome to another episode of In The Loop with Andy Andrews. |
| 0:16.8 | I am your host once again, David Loy, and I am happy to be here, as always, with my good friend, Andy Andrews. Andy, how are you today? |
| 0:25.5 | Doing good, David. How are you? |
| 0:27.3 | I am fantastic, and I'm ready to go. We've got another great topic, or at least I think it's a great topic. |
| 0:33.6 | I'm excited to hear your thoughts about it. We get continuing to get amazing questions from |
| 0:39.6 | people, emails, and people are even stopping you on the streets or stopping me if they |
| 0:45.6 | come across me and just asking questions, hey, could Andy answer this or what are Andy's |
| 0:50.3 | thoughts on this topic? And so we're just continuing to rifle through those. And one that came |
| 0:54.9 | across our plates over the last couple of weeks is about your writing process. You know, I think, |
| 1:01.1 | I think there's so many people out there, and you've even touched on this, that are aspiring |
| 1:06.8 | writers, or maybe they are writers, or what's the phrase you say about the greatest book |
| 1:11.7 | ever written? I forget how you say that. I promise you, the greatest book ever written is in |
| 1:19.1 | somebody's drawer somewhere because they put it out there. It got turned down once or twice or four |
| 1:27.0 | times, and they said, you know, well, they're right. |
| 1:30.6 | This is not worth anything. |
| 1:31.9 | And they put it away. |
| 1:33.5 | And, you know, I'm not saying traveler's gift is, you know, incredible or anything like that. |
| 1:40.9 | But if you found any value in it, it was turned down 51 times over |
| 1:45.8 | three and a half years. And that, you know, that I am, I'm a punk on that list, right? I mean, |
... |
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