It takes courage to not accept offers from writer friends. "We would be glad to look at your manuscript," they say. I'm worried that I'm just seeing the trees and not the forest. I'm afraid my friends will say, "That's a lovely birch," and "What a fabulous pine," and won't say--out of kindness--that the forest is a tangled mess of vines and rotting stumps.
It takes courage (or stupidity) to send a manuscript to a fierce writer. An unflinching critic. A poet who knows the difference between something that's decomposing and something that's green and growing.
It takes something--courage or stupidity or eternal optimism--to keep writing. To keep submitting even though the odds are not good. (Chicken Soup gets thousands of submissions for each anthology... and still I submit.) To keep revising and talking about the craft and believing in a piece.
It's something. I'm just not sure what it is...
It is all of the above, with a whopping dollop of persistence and the knowledge that even if we don't make it big, we've at least made it real. You're making it real every time you write, revise, edit, submit, and repeat. The rest is luck and timing.
ReplyDeleteLisa--I love that sentiment: we're making it real.
DeleteI hope to think it is optimism. :) Not stupidity. If we were stupid, then how could we write all these wonderful words we do. ;)
ReplyDeleteMargo--That's right! We're such brilliant writers, there's no way it's stupidity. ;)
DeleteI am watching my mailbox with hawkish concentration!
ReplyDeleteShay--Hawkish? I've seen too many nature movies. I know what hawks do to their prey. ;)
DeleteYeah, I think that sometimes, Sioux, we just can't help ourselves. :-) But I'm glad you keep at it. I also think that sometimes, the best writers are those who don't have any idea that they're wonderful writers!
ReplyDeleteCathy--That's about all we can do, isn't it--we just have to keep at it.
DeleteI am going to bend your arm behind your back until you pass your ms to me. Diligence, persistence, hope...believing in yourself and learning as you go...that is why we do it. I just read that if you collect rejections, you are learning to perfect your craft. I agree.
ReplyDeleteLinda--Well, I've been collecting some lately. I agree as well. If we don't submit, we are stuck in a rut and will never get any better.
DeleteJust like with the lottery (not that I have any experience with it, of course)...you can't win if you don't play. Never give up hope. Carry on.
ReplyDeleteVal--If I got published as often as you win with lottery tickets, you could call me Jimmy Patterson.
DeleteBut that ain't never gonna happen...
I don't consider myself to be writer, just practicing. I seem to do better when I use the voice of my dogs. But, I do love my dogs ... Thank you for your kindness last week, it has been hard.
ReplyDeleteKathy--I think we are ALL practicing. Sometimes my practice sessions are better than others.
DeleteI'm sorry to say, but it'll be hard for a while. They carve such a place in our hearts, it takes a while to heal.
Everything you said is so well put. I am looking for a day when I can be stupid again and write some more.
ReplyDeleteClaudia--I hope that day for you comes soon.
DeleteI believe it takes courage which I seem to lack. I like to write but I've never tried to publish anything.
ReplyDeletePat--Just try it. You might be surprised.
DeleteYou already have a significant accomplishment. YOU WROTE A BOOK! That's more than most people can say.
ReplyDeleteI'm so glad you sent it to someone who can give you objective, honest impressions and feedback. That will be invaluable.
Though I haven't read your ms, I'm betting all it needs is some judicious pruning. With time and persistence, your book will find the right home.
Pat
www.patwahler.com
Pat--Pruning? Or cutting it completely down and throwing it in the compost heap?
DeleteTime will tell...
Hi Sioux,
ReplyDeleteIt was great to see you again and to feel your new lease on life.(via your new teaching position) Thank you for encouraging me to return to blogland. I wil seriously consider it. I'll think about the retreat too. Have to check with my boss. Keep being an enCOURAGEr!
Barbara--It was great to see YOU. I hope to see you in Columbia (Illinois).
DeleteRohin--You burned your writing? To a writer, that's against the law. It might not please you now, but later, with new eyes, you might see something of value in it.
ReplyDeleteThis manuscript/piece is far different from anything else I've written. The writing of it healed me in a couple of ways so even if it's deemed a pile of poop, I got some benefit from the process.
I think you should try NaNoWriMo--National Novel Writing Month. The idea--write a novel in one month (November)--ensures that your internal editor is banished, because you don't have time to worry if the writing is good when your primary goal is to get 1,600 + words down every day.
Think about it...
Rohin--One, I'm excited you're considering doing NaNoWriMo. A bit of advice. Do not use any contractions. "Do not" is better than "don't" because it's double the words. ;)
ReplyDelete(You can always go back in your revising, after you've hit 50,000 words, and changed the stilted language to something more flowing.)
Two, thanks for the offer. I had my writing group look at it in its first form, than scrapped the whole thing and pretty much started from scratch. This is the third or fourth version, depending on how you look at it. If my beta reader determines it's worth anything, I'll do some more revising and try to find another publisher that might be a good fit.
I don't think it would be the kind of fare you enjoy. There's lots of men-bashing, the color of the language sometimes matches the color of the sky, and it's definitely slanted toward the tastes of women. In other words, it's chick lit. However, if it seems like the manuscript is judged by objective eyes to be better than a pile of poop, and if you still want to look at it, I would be glad to send it to you sometime... assuming you have a thick skin. ;)
Love that forest metaphor! Very poetic yet practical.
ReplyDelete