Tools of the trade

I'm reading 'Writing the Breakout Novel' by Donald Mass.
I've wanted to read it for some time now and finally ordered it through my local bookstore. While I waited anxiously for it's arrival I was privy to some online conversation about the book and the thoughts shared were scary to me, some said it depressed them, some said it scared them to the point of writer paralyzation. All of a sudden I wasn't to anxious for my book to arrive, curious yes, anxious no.
I wondered if he would dash my fledgling writers dreams. Time constraints and ignorance currently leave me with huge chunks of time that are not spent writing. Fear is a very real part of my world now. I know what I do not know and it will take time and loads of effort to get to the point where I know it. I envy those authors who began as English teachers or literature majors, experience and education which I am not carrying in my writers tool belt. I am a smart but lazy woman, I like to do what comes easy to me and punctuation is not one of those things. That said If Mr. Mass had some disturbing news in his book I could be set back quite easily.

Friday my book arrived. I picked it up, brought it home and looked at it. It didn't look very scary. I read the forward by Anne Perry not too bone chilling.
Saturday I began to read. I was happy to see that Donald Mass and I see the writing world the same way. It is not good enough to get published, one must write well.
You would think this would be a no brainier but it's not. The women who expressed fear and depression at the content of his book do not understand that it is not good enough to get published. They want publication and they want it soon. They want to live off the meager earnings of the first sale and write many, many books for the mass publisher they target.
I want more. I know that my vision of sitting an a terrace in Greece writing and watching people go by while I sip strong coffee from a tiny cup are not going to be a reality if I don't write well. If I don't develop a following of loyal readers who will buy book after book. It will also not happen if I don't write my book!

So I will thank Donald Mass for his brilliance and finish his book. Then I will conquer my fears and pick up that little tiny 'elements of style'.
Watch out publishers! Here I come!