Lessons to learn from Cormac McCarthy

Cormac McCarthy, one of the great American writers, died this past week. Longreads aggregated some of the best writing by and about him. All of the pieces they recommend are worth reading. A photographer friend notes that McCarthy’s road to success wasn’t as straight or instant. And there is a lot we can learn from him.

What I didn’t know about him is that after 26 years of writing, none of McCarthy’s novels “had sold more than 5,000 hardcover copies”. He was labelled the “best unknown novelist in America”. He spent half of his long writing career as a mostly unknown writer.

The arts, and that includes photography, are not a meritocracy: good work, even outstanding work, is not a guarantee of success. Another lesson we can take from his example and many similar others is that success is a lagging indicator. The same goes for failure, by the way.

It’s only when we find joy in what we do, and when we set our own definition of success, what that looks like for us, that we have a chance to succeed. And even if that never comes, at least we have poured our souls into our work and shared it with whoever was there to listen to us.

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PS: I also recommend this analysis of McCarthy’s books. 

June 14, 2023. San Francisco