If You Build It

One of my all-time favorite movies is Field of Dreams. It has everything I love in a movie: A young Kevin Costner (before he started making marathon-long movies you had to give up a whole day to watch), James Earl Jones (who doesn't love James Earl Jones's voice?!), baseball (hello? Baseball-central-family here), and a whole lot of inspiration. I can't imagine there's anyone out there who hasn't seen the movie, but just in case you've been living in a hole in the ground the past twenty years, here's the gist...

A thirty-something ex-hippy living with his wife and young daughter on a farm in Iowa hears a strange voice that urges him to plow under his crop and build a baseball diamond in its place. Everyone thinks he's crazy. Heck, even he thinks he's crazy, yet the voice is so strong, he does it without knowing why. Thus starts the mystery of...If you build it, he will come.

I love this movie because I think many of us have experienced the same thing - although on a very different level. Every time you make a decision that sets your life on a new path, you're building something without knowing the end result. For me, it's been writing. With each word I write, I'm building a book. And the promise at the end of all my hard work is a publishing contract; seeing my name on the cover of a book. I could literally be Kevin Costner in my own personal movie. Only in my field of dreams, the voice would whisper, If you write it, you will sell.

Wow. So simple. And yet, how many writers write without reaching that ending goal of selling? Thousands.

It's not enough to simply do. You have to continue. Grow. Change. Revamp. Do again. Over and over and over and over until you figure out the mystery of that whispering voice. You have to go beyond what you think is enough. If you build it, he will come is pretty vague. Did Kevin Costner's character skimp on the construction of the field? Save money by creating a dirt infield instead of grass? Skip the bleachers or the backstop or figure, "Hey, I created a diamond, I don't really need to plow under more corn to build the whole outfield?" Nope. He put everything he had into that field without knowing what would happen in the end or why he was even supposed to do it in the first place. And he didn't stop there. He left his family and farm and set out on a cross-country trip because somewhere inside he knew just building the field wasn't enough. There was more he was supposed to do.

If you write it, you will sell. For most of us, that is the end goal we're striving for. I've met writers who think simply by writing they will reach that ultimate goal of publication. Some have natural talent which makes writing easy for them, therefore they don't think they have to work as hard as the rest of us. Some are simply arrogant. These writers are convinced everything they write is gold. Their work doesn't change and grow over the years. They believe every ounce of praise they receive and reject any criticism as hogwash. They are the ones who know everything, who get bored easily with their projects, who skip over details and send their work out convinced it's the next NYT Bestseller, then question why they aren't yet published. These writers are all over the loops, they're the ones asking questions and seeking advice. They're in every chapter, at every conference you attend. But the reality in this business is unless you are constantly learning, changing, growing, challenging yourself from book to book, applying what you learn in one manuscript to the next, and are editing, editing, editing to make your current work the best it can be, you will most likely never reach your ending goal of publication. That voice is still going to be whispering in your head, telling you to plow under your corn, and you aren't going to have a clue what the heck it means you should do next.

Writing is not a simple career. I think most of us know that. The more you write, the harder it is to do. Plots get more complicated, characters become more rich. If you're doing it right, you're striving to make each book better than the last. Each of us are writers because we love the written word, and we each have our own personal field of dreams. But simply building it isn't enough. You have to continue to work for what you really want. Never give up changing and growing as a writer.

The tagline for Field of Dreams is: If you believe in the impossible, the incredible can happen. I would amend that for us writers: If you strive to change the impossible, the incredible can happen.

What do you think? Is simply writing enough? Or is there more to this whole writing gig than just putting your butt in the chair everyday? And while we're at it, tell me what you've done to become a better writer this week.