Killing Envy in Your Writing

Let us walk honestly, as in the day; not in rioting and drunkenness, not in chambering and wantonness, not in strife and envying. (Romans 13:13, KJV)

We are envious creatures.  We all want.  We want a lot.  And in the big expanse of the world, we are certainly going to find at least one person who has exactly what we want -- in abundance.

And we're going to question why.  Why that person and not us?  Why so much for that person and nothing for us?  When will we get ours?

When we're envious, we are discontent; we long to have other's achievements, advantages, successes, and possessions.  Envy often leads to jealousy as we move from being emotional (sad, discontent) over someone's possessions to being resentful that someone has gained something that we believe we should have gained instead.

Envy is detrimental for several reasons - one in particular is this:  we denounce our own worth by comparing and wanting and becoming resentful over what other people have.

How can we be on the right path of our life, the life God wants us to have if we are so busy peeking over into the yards of others' lives and wanting what they have?

We can't be on the right path.  We won't be on the right path.

It's hard.  As humans, we want what we want when we want it.  No exceptions.  We live on the world's time, not God's time.  God gives to us when it's our time to have it.  We fail to realize that the very things we want of others could be ours if we spent more time acting in our lives and less time wanting others' lives.

In the world of publishing, it’s easy to get envious. You’re a voracious reader. You have networked with other writers, both unpublished and published. You have researched agents and editors until you believe you could recite every agent and editor that exists. You have taken classes and workshops, even pursued a degree to help you better your craft. You write, a lot—not just with the goal of being published but also with the goal of being a better writer each time you come out the writing gate. You have written, rewritten, and rewritten two, three or more times your elevator pitches, query letters, and synopses. You have revised your manuscript more times than your fingers can count. You have had your book professionally edited. You’re ready to send your literary baby out into the world, and you do. You send to agents. You send to editors who allow for unagented submissions. You send sample chapters to author friends, asking if they could recommend agents, editors. You do all of this. Not just for weeks, months. Years. And every year, as you polish a new manuscript, send it out, and start working on your next baby, you see others getting published.

Frustration settles. Irritation settles. Agitation settles. Doubt settles. Failure settles. Envy settles and takes root and colors the work you’ve done, the work that still needs to be done for you to reach your own literary success. It’s not easy. Reaching Publishdom isn’t necessarily about talent—and it’s important to know that. Yes, it’s important to be talented, and as a person who is big on the writing craft and seeing writers constantly trying to master their craft, I believe it is the most vital thing a writer can have. However, other components play a role, too—marketability, persistence, perseverance, connections, and luck to name a few. Instead of focusing on what we don’t have, what we haven’t received yet, we should focus on what else we can do, what more we can do to claim our rightful success. There is plenty to go around—we don’t need to covet others’ literary success.

We have to recognize the green-eyed monster. It exists. No need in frontin’ like it doesn’t. I openly admit that I have been envious, I have been jealous. And recently, too. It's hard to admit that.  No one ever does.  But I know if I work harder at what I need to do, if I focus on mine and not others, if I talk to God and ask Him to guide me in my own successes and to remove envy from my heart; at some point, envy will be removed and the space to allow my successes room will expand.

And then, I will have killed envy.

And then, I will succeed.