Jane Friedman has a somewhat topical post up entitled “How Long Should You Keep Trying To Get Published?” (which in turn is a reprint of an article in Writer’s Digest from 2011) which seems rather relevant in this week of my trying and doing and such. Friedman gives a nice self evaluation checklist that seemed to hit the nail right on the head, so if you’re like me and have occasional bouts of wondering if you should throw in the towel (I did that once. Thank goodness I have friends who are smarter than me), check out her evaluation. The kindest piece of advice of course comes at the end:
…I suggested that it might be nice if someone could tell us if we’re wasting our time trying to get traditionally published.
Here’s a little piece of hope: If your immediate thought was, I couldn’t stop writing even if someone told me to give up, then you’re much closer to publication than someone who is easily discouraged.
I can say that despite today’s rejection slip in my inbox, I’m not at the embittered, poor-me state. Not yet. I recognize still that in order to be published, you have to have actually written and submitted enough to warrant those random feelings of “the world is against me.” Despite my unchequed ego, I am very much still in the “needs to write more and try harder” phase.
Check out Jane’s column here. Enjoy!
Related articles
- #Write Tip: Why Do You Write? Knowing Yourself Is Key (bryanthomasschmidt.net)
- Guest post: The Slow Blog Manifesto: 7 Reasons for New Authors to Blog Slowly by Anne R. Allen (morgenbailey.wordpress.com)
- Writing Communities (eemoxam.wordpress.com)
