better writing, editing, and publishing
It’s IWSG time again! This is my monthly post on the blog hop The Insecure Writers Support Group: a blog hop therapy group for writers. (If you’re here for my writing lessons and have no need for this warm-fuzzy-feeling stuff, I’ll see you Friday after […]
What I do when I get into a writing funk (Well, after the coffee, the chocolate, and moping around the house for days.) My road to recovery in three steps:
This post is part of the Insecure Writer’s Support Group: a monthly blog hop therapy group for writers.
The awesome co-hosts for the March 7 posting of the IWSG are Mary Aalgaard, Bish Denham, Jennifer Hawes, Diane Burton, and Gwen Gardner!
The short answer is: I don’t.
Perhaps I’m an overly pessimistic person, but I’ve never been one to count my chickens. The world is too quick to remind you that you aren’t as smart as you think.
As a beginning writer, I made the mistake of querying too early. Twenty queries turned into twenty rejections and my previously “finished” novel would undergo another round of edits in preparation for the next batch of queries, which would produce the same results. This cycle lasted until I had exhausted every agent in the query tracker database.
My next novel fared no better.
After doing this for years, I’ve decided not to celebrate tiny milestones. They don’t motivate me and one tiny checkmark on a hundred point list only serves as a reminder of how much further I still need to go. Even if I were to land an agent with my current WIP, the novel would get another round of edits before submissions, and then another from the publisher. As it stands, I see no reason to celebrate finishing something I know isn’t really finished. So maybe I’ll uncork the Champagne on the day the book is released, but by that time, I will probably have moved the bar to making the best-seller list. In any case, I have plenty of time to make up my mind.
As for smaller works, well, I celebrate those by checking my PayPal account.
Cheers!
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Why I write Fantasy. This is my first post on the blog hop The Insecure Writers Support Group: a monthly blog hop therapy group for writers.(If you’re here for my writing lessons and have no need for this warm-fuzzy-feeling stuff, I’ll see you on Friday.)
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