About a month ago, I went on a hike with one of my friends. We were hiking in a new place, she had a new camera and because it was her birthday, we were celebrating the beginning of a new year for her. The hike was about two miles to the top and we took our time looking at everything. We took pictures of leaves, trees, rocks and anything else that looked remotely interesting. She used her camera and I used my phone and we snapped away. Neither one of us wanted to miss any of the details. When we finally got to the top of the mountain and saw the view (which is the picture in this post), I forgot all about the little details I had seen along the way.
I was completely transfixed by the big picture.
Story of my life
I’m a Virgo, so by definition, I’m hard-working, detail-oriented, modest, critical, pragmatic, meticulous, conservative…Virgo’s are the ultimate perfectionists. Yep, that’s me. And anyone who has a bit of a “perfectionist” side to them knows that it’s very, very easy to get bogged down in the details and miss out on the big picture. The expression, “can’t see the forest for the trees” comes to mind when I think about how I process things. It drives my family nuts sometimes and honestly, it drives me nuts too.
But, there is an up-side to being detail oriented. I get $%%# done and I get it done right! I have a steel trap for a memory and as far as it applies to my writing, I have gotten a lot of great feedback about the details in my novel. Readers are telling me that they can picture everything as if they are watching it on TV. That’s a huge compliment as I worked really hard to accomplish that.
So, what’s the issue now?
Happy medium…something I need to find
Is it good to pay attention to the details or is it bad? At the moment, it’s bad. I have to be honest and tell you that I’m absolutely bogged down in the details. This whole writing journey has taught me so much about how the process works and let me tell you, it’s complicated.
Let me give you an example. You all know I’m trying to sell books, right? Well, Amazon has a great little tool that allows authors to see where they rank as far as print sales go and they’re kind enough to update it EVERY hour. You see where I’m going, right? Yes, I look at it EVERY hour, which is a bad, bad thing to do. Especially because I have no idea what their formula to rank books even consists of. Let’s just say that some hours are “happy hours” and some hours have me swearing that I’ll never write another book again.
As an author and someone who is really trying to make a success of this new venture, it is important to pay attention to details. I need to know if people are buying and liking the book (appears to be yes on both accounts). I need to know who my target demographics are. I need to know if people are sharing and reviewing my book (yes, but I’d love to see more-hint hint!) and I need to stop worrying about the people who are not as supportive as I would’ve thought they’d be because so many others are more supportive than I would’ve ever imagined. There is nothing bad here.
Detail schmetails
I realize that I will never change.
I have always been about the details and I imagine I always will be. I just need to focus on the details that are most important. The details like, so and so didn’t like my page, or someone gave me a four star rating (which I should be thrilled about but I’m a perfectionist remember) shouldn’t be what I focus on, and I’m trying to tell myself that every day.
The big picture is that I wrote a book. I WROTE A BOOK. Holy $%#@, I really wrote a book and people are buying it, reading it and liking it. That’s what I need to remember because although all of the leaves and rocks and trees are part of the journey; the view from the top is something that shouldn’t be missed.
Dana Perry says
Love your book!!! Hopefully I will see a second ?
Hilary Wynne says
Thank you Dana! You will see a second, and a third! The sequel to Stay – Hold On – is with the editor right now and I’m hoping it will be out for sale in early April.
Hilary