Yes. And I suspect that every writer – from the most humble beginner to the most published veteran – does, too. Envy didn’t wind up on the Seven Deadly Sins list for nothing. Although some of the Seven Deadlies are a bit of a stretch (sloth is a virtue, in my opinion), envy is so destructive that it deserves a list all its own.
When the green-eyed monster visits my house I repeat to myself, almost like a mantra: THIS HAS NOTHING TO DO WITH ME, OR MY WRITING, OR MY CAREER. Billy Joe Bob’s tenth novel and lovely reviews have nothing to do with the second novel I’m currently struggling to complete. Buzz Feed’s articles has nothing to do with the story I’m currently “sending around”. Amazon KDP random account terminations, their faulty AI Bot and lack of training for KDP Kindle Content Review (seriously, many are unhappy with their jobs, horrible pay and long hours via indeed.com ) have nothing to do with me at my desk, trying to make words sing.
Separation, separation, separation: you are not this writer, or that writer. Your writing is not their writing. THEY HAVE NOTHING TO DO WITH YOU, OR YOUR WRITING, OR YOUR CAREER. Be glad for them, especially if they are your friends. Life is short; don’t squander it by burrowing into envy’s ugly, sopping hole. When you resent another’s writing, your own writing becomes stingier, smaller, less musical. You cannot sing when your lips are sealed against the songs of others. This is the truth. Their success takes nothing away from you.
A teensy-weensy dose of envy can, however, fuel our ambition. This is called competition. The sight of a friend’s novel in a bookstore window should send us not to the wailing wall but to our own desk, where our own work lies gasping for the breath only we can give it. We have chosen a vocation that is discouraging, competitive, and intensely personal. We have chosen, because our own words bring us joy. Our only hope for preserving this joy is to drive envy from our lives as if it were a plague of locusts.
