Envy.

I’m sure you aren’t aware of this, having never experienced it yourself, but I’ve heard that some writers have become envious of others. Shocking, right?

Sometimes it’s the mega-bestsellers of questionable literary merit that trigger envy. (“I’ve spent months perfecting every paragraph and no one wants to read my work, but that trash gets published?”)

Other times envy comes when another author has a good outcome with their first effort. (“I’ve been trying to get published since before they knew they wanted to be a writer!”)

Envy may even crop up when it’s announced that a non-author celebrity has signed on for a lucrative book deal. (“Justin Bieber?! A memoir?! What is he, like TWELVE YEARS OLD? I’ve been doing this since before he was born! How is that fair? How can the universe do that to meeeeeedsfklj;n df;idfh; dvvndsfuhdsf ;;asdh;sdkv  vdkn nvmvnmv ,,vcx vn” [Insert sound of brain melting.])

Writers like these could earn the “envy” merit badge by becoming seething balls of jealous hatred or by learning to acknowledge their feelings and deal with them in a way that allows them to remain part of polite society.

But, as I mentioned, I’m sure you don’t have the slightest experience with any of that. Envy! Who knew?

This is part of the merit badges for writers series, and may be posted on your site or blog. Have you earned this badge? Will you never earn it? Tell us why in the comments.