This week I had a chance to re-listen to a favorite of mine, An Astronaut’s Guide to Life on Earth by Chris Hadfield. One of my book clubs chose to read this one at my suggestion, and I’m so glad they did. Chris Hadfield is the astronaut you might recognize from his viral music video from the ISS or any of his great educational YouTube videos on the everyday life of astronauts. I find Chris’s writing delightful, his life fascinating, and his insights to life spot on.
This time through, I read the book with an eye towards how his advice could apply to a writing career. As you probably know, I’ve been a stay-at-home mom for over a decade. Now that my youngest child is in kindergarten, I’ve started to think more often about what I want to be when I grow up. I know I want to do something with words, but nailing that dream down can be hard.
This is where Hadfield’s advice comes in. Here’s what the life of an astronaut can teach writers:
Prepare for your big dream, even if it seems impossible
Hadfield decided he wanted to be an astronaut after watching the moon landing. Just one problem: he was Canadian. Canada had no space program at the time and didn’t seem likely to get one. He could have figured it wasn’t meant to be and given up. Instead, he spent his time thinking, “What would a future astronaut be doing right now?” He trained as a fighter pilot, just in case. He got an advanced science degree, just in case. Then when Canada did open up a space program, he was ready to apply for the job.
Writing is a particularly nebulous career path. There’s no obvious entrance that will lead you straight to the best-seller list of your preferred genre. Instead of feeling frustrated and anxious that you’ll never get your dream, try to think of what might help you be ready when opportunity comes knocking. What would a New York Times bestseller in your genre be doing right now? Taking a writing course to hone their craft? Entering the Writers of the Future contest regularly? Almost certainly, they’d be taking their writing seriously by practicing regularly.
Consider studying the careers of writers you admire and looking for ways to emulate what they did before they hit it big. Hadfield knew that most astronauts were either fighter pilots or PhD scientists (largely both), so he picked a career path where he could emulate them. Look into how your favorite writers build their career to when it is today. Is there anything on there you could be doing?
Enjoy the preparation and treat success as a bonus
After passing through astronaut selection, Hadfield found that there was no guarantee he’d get to space. Each team of astronauts is chosen from hundreds of astronaut candidates. Teams were chosen based on skills needed and personality balance. Most of an astronaut’s career is on the ground, prepping for other people’s missions and learning the skills needed to be useful to the program.
Even once selected for a team, he spent a month training for every day he spent in space. If you only enjoyed being in space, life as an astronaut would be miserable. Luckily, Hadfield loved to learn and to act as support staff for the other astronauts. Because he found fulfillment in learning new things, even if he was never selected to travel to space, he would have lived a happy life.
Similarly, even once your book get published, there are no guarantees in publishing. You might flop and need to start again under a pen name or switch genres. Your books will most likely not be the next Harry Potter or Twilight. Writing for fame and glory will make you pretty miserable most of the time.
If instead you can learn to love the process of writing, you’ll have a happy life. Learn to enjoy your writing process. Always be trying something new and interesting. Figure out how to deliver your stories consistently and on time. Support the careers of those around you. Then if one of your books does make it big, treat that as a bonus for your steady hard work.
Strive to be a zero
Hadfield explained that there are three types of people: +1’s, -1’s, and 0’s. +1’s are those that actively contribute to what’s going on, the ones who make the big decisions and have the good ideas. The problem is if you go around trying to be a +1, you can end up looking arrogant or just contributing for the sake of contributing, focusing more on how it makes you look than how it actually helps others.
Obviously, you don’t want to be a -1 either. -1’s are actively hurting the group either by their bad attitude or incompetence.
Hadfield’s approach was to be a zero. A zero observes what is going on, seeking to understand the situation thoroughly rather than actively promote themselves. When you are absolutely certain of what’s going on, that’s when you can best see how to contribute and end up being a +1 anyway.
I think the zero stance can be a good attitude for a writing group. Writing groups full of +1’s can make a new writer feel invalid and henpecked. A lot of their advice can also be wrong, given that no two writers work exactly the same way. Likewise, no one likes a writing group full of -1’s, who tear down other people’s writing or whose suggestions are clearly useless.
Instead I advocate for the audience reaction writing group approach: instead of offering ways to fix things, observe. Present the writer with your reactions as an audience. “I was sad/happy/confused here” is so much more helpful than “You need to change this part in chapter 3.”
Stay humble
When an astronaut comes home from a mission, they go straight to the bottom of the pecking order. No special privileges, no increased chance of being chosen again, it’s back to the grindstone of prepping for other people’s missions. Some astronauts have a hard time handling this perceived loss of status. But no one wants to work with someone who thinks only their opinion matters.
Just because one book sold well, doesn’t mean that your next will. Every book, like every space flight, must stand on its own merits. If you can stay humble, in spite of success, you can keep learning and improving your books. If you get a big head about it and refuse to listen to the advice of editors and beta-readers, not only will your books stagnate, but your professional contacts may not sent you the opportunities you need. Treat every other writer as a co-worker and friend, whether they are just starting or have publish three different series. Don’t look down on those who are where you once were.
