It's Never Too Late

It's never too late to be who you might have been - George Eliot

Middlemarch and The Mill on the Floss are two of my favourite classic works of literature.  And Mary Anne Evans was brilliant in other ways as well.

Her quote above is constantly inspiring me.

You see, I've been writing for a long time.  Seriously, for most of that time.  I've only just started getting published in the past couple of years.  My goals are simple: every year, I publish more.

Will I ever become a great writer, like Ms. Evans?  Perhaps.  Perhaps not.  But I keep trying.  That's the only way to become who I might be.

How to Get Rejected...A Lot

This year, one of my resolutions was to send out more writing submissions.  Short stories, full length manuscripts, romance, horror, you name it - I wrote it and I sent it out into the cold hard world.

This was also the year I had my first romance short story accepted for publication.

Coincidence?  I think not.

Something that changed in my life with the decision to send out more writing submissions was the sheer volume of work involved in getting together cover letters, synopses, editing the stories themselves.  Not to mention the research that went into finding the appropriate journals and publishers to receive my work.

And, then, once I had submitted my writing, I spent time checking up on the submissions after the recommended waiting period (and, often, before the period was up).  In some cases, I had to resubmit due to work being lost or misplaced or simply because the publishers' guidelines said to do that after a few months had passed.

Then, of course, came the hardest work of all - reading the rejection letters that started to spill in.

Oh, the horror.

Rejection letters are disheartening, in that they rip into your chest and pull out your still beating heart and then squeeze it and squeeze it until it bleeds tears of blood.

Yes, it feel just like that.

The Solution

I can't say that each rejection letter doesn't hurt.  They do.  They keep on hurting, I imagine, even for successful published authors.  That's because of what they represent...a decision that, for whatever reason, your writing wasn't good enough.  And, of course, that leads us to think that we aren't good enough.

Here's the thing: a rejection letter only means that your piece of writing wasn't what that specific agent/publisher/editor wanted at that time for their specific purpose/schedule/tastes/needs.  That's all.

A rejection doesn't mean your writing sucks and, most of all, doesn't mean some other agent or editor won't want it when it fits into their particular needs and tastes.

My solution is to keep my options open (and hopes alive) by sending out a bunch of queries at the same time.  As the rejection letters start rolling in, I can say to myself "well, that's one down.  I have ten more in the hopper, which means ten more chances to be accepted".  This inevitably cheers me up.

When I find that my 'hopper' has run low, I send out another batch of queries.

Yes, this is time-consuming.  It takes ten times as long to send out ten queries because it means additional research, revisions to your query letter, structuring your manuscript or synopsis in a specific way as set out in the individual guidelines.  It's work, yes.  But it's worth it.

No two ways about it, rejection hurts.  This is one way I've found to make it sting less.

Writing Burnout

Just as bad as writer's block is its twin: writing burnout.  It happens when you push yourself too hard and end up writing a lot in a short period and then nothing for a long time.  Indeed, I've been known to suffer from writing burnout just thinking hard about writing.

Yes, writing burnout happens even when you're not actually recovering from a bout of writing but when you've ceased to get any pleasure from the activity, or even the thought of, writing.

I have to constantly remind myself that, much like my day job, I need breaks from my writing.  Yes, even an extended period such as the past month (full disclosure: I have written a few pages in the last week).

Don't get me wrong, I love writing (and I do love my day job, at times).  But sometimes, as Patti Smith says, love just ain't enough.  Absence makes the heart grow fonder, etcetera.  A break from writing usually brings me charging back into it with renewed vigour.

My problem is allowing the burnout period to run its course.  My instinct is to jump right back onto that exhausted horse and hammer out a few pages, even when it is the last thing on earth I feel like doing.  Forcing myself to write works when I'm suffering from writer's block, not writing burnout.  When I feel burnout, I have to give myself time to rediscover my love of writing, which is sometimes lurking a few levels beneath my skin.  Sometimes, quite a few.

Writing is an art, a calling, a true love.  But like any love, you can occasionally benefit from some time apart, if only to recall why you fell in love in the first place.

Read "Proud Surrender" - My Entry into the New Voices Contest

I managed to get in my entry for the New Voices contest well in advance of the deadline.

Check out my entry, Proud Surrender: http://www.romanceisnotdead.com/Entries/398-Proud-Surrender

Please vote and comment on it, too, even if you only have "constructive criticism" to offer! :)

And if you're thinking about getting serious about your romance writing, try entering the contest yourself.

Good luck!  (And wish me luck).

Road to Publication - My First Revision Request

This summer, I received my very first revision request.  I was over the moon!

It may not sound like a lot but this was the first time anyone in the romance publishing industry had taken notice of my writing enough to say: hey, why don't you work on this story and get back to us.  It helped that the editor also said that she loved my story. I was literally grinning for days.

But then came the hard part -- actually making the revisions.

Some stuff was fairly easy: fixing a few typos and so on.  The hard part was changing several of my scenes that were guilty of "head hopping" or switching between the points of view of more than one character.  In one scene, I found that I had switched back and forth at least three times!  Ouch.

It was the first time I became aware of my technical writing habits (read: flaws).  Head hopping appeared to be my favourite technique.

It took me weeks to change the scenes to my liking and to ensure that each scene was structurally sound, which meant going through my story line by line, word by word.  It meant re-reading my work over and over, turning a task I usually find enjoyable into a labour of love.

Labour, I did and eventually I succeeded in producing a manuscript that met with my editor's liking.  Let me tell you, those few days' wait between sending off the corrected story and waiting for her to say it was good were a killer!

The process of revising taught me a great deal.  With someone else watching over my shoulder, I recognized my common mistakes and was able to develop a technique for fixing them.  Yes, it's painstaking but it was well worth it to get back that email saying my story looked good.

Reaching the Finish Line

As I get ready to polish my submission and send out my first erotic romance to a publisher, I am filled with a sense of accomplishment.

Less than a month ago, when I first decided to answer this call for submissions with my own entry, I was swimming in doubt and anxiety.  As the date ticked closer to the deadline, my stress level ratcheted up.  Would I be able to finish my manuscript on time?  Would I have enough time to edit?  What about the synopsis I'd practically forgotten?  Would I have the time to create a solid one?

These questions passed through my head every hour or so and I had to push them aside every time.  Too much time spent wondering "how" and "when" can get in the way of doing it now.  The longer I spent agonizing over whether I would finish my story in time, the less time I had to actually accomplish my goal.

Let me tell you, finishing a project feels great.  Yes, I could spend this time after I've sent off my story to worry whether it will get chosen for publication -- or I can bask in a job well done, to the best of my talent and ability.  The evaluation part of the process, at least for creative writing, is subjective.  I think I wrote a great story but I can't predict what anyone else might think of it.  They might love it or they might shrug their shoulders and say "meh".  Either way, it is now officially out of my control.  So there's no sense in worrying about it, is there?

For now, I want to savour the accomplishment.

For me, the time between writing projects is practically nil so I have literally no time to worry about the current submission.  That also means I have no time to dwell on a job well done.  Today, I will take the time to do just that.  But that doesn't mean that I don't know what I will be writing later today.  I already have it planned.

Photo courtesy of winnond at freedigitalphotos.net

Are You Still a Real Writer if You Haven’t Published?

All of my life, I’ve considered myself a writer. Heck, aren’t we all? We all churn out book reviews for middle school English classes and history essays for high school. We all do some writing at work, if only to tot up our hours worked every week. In a sense, we’re all writers.

But creative writing is a different animal. Most of those people who’ve written essays and book reviews don’t choose to write another document once they’ve graduated. Most of them wouldn’t pay attention to word count or run spell check unless they’re getting paid to do it. Most people don’t choose to write.

That’s what makes writers great. Every writer, at some point, has written a story or a novel for nothing. Zilch. Nada. As the industry politely calls it, “on spec”.

I’ve spent my entire career writing on spec and I’m not sure that that situation will change in the near future. Yet I keep churning out the manuscripts (I’ve produced more than twenty completed romance manuscripts to date – everything from historicals to alternate realities to contemporary series-style). Why? Am I crazy?

Yeah, crazy like a writer. An unpublished writer.

So, back to our central issue: are you still a “real” writer when you haven’t published a word?

On one level, we’re all real writers because we spend time and energy on our craft and produce stories and manuscripts that our families and friends love to read, even if forced to do so.

But there are real negatives to being unpublished.

First of all, you belong to the great unwashed hordes of aspiring writers who are hungrily seeking: a literary agent, a book deal, a few cents. The conundrum that most unpublished writers experience is that many publishers won’t look at your work without an agent and many agents won’t represent you without a publishing history or a contract in hand. Yikes.

Second, you can’t belong to certain professional organizations without a publishing credit behind your name. Organizations can be a great way to network and learn the inside tricks and tips of experienced writers. Unfortunately, some of them don’t want to hear from you unless you’re already one of them. Another conundrum for the aspiring writer.

No one takes you seriously, least of all your family and friends. Aside from the industry, who has turned its collective back on you, your friends and family tend not to take your years’ long toiling at the computer too seriously unless you’ve produced a publication during that time. They want to push you aside so they can play computer games and surf the internet. The nerve! Don’t they know that you’re working?

When you’re writing, the word “working” can often end up in quotation marks. People may see it as a harmless but time consuming hobby. You get paid to do work, right? So you can’t be working. Not really.

Acquaintances want to ask uncomfortable questions of you if you’re brave or foolhardy enough to announce that you’re a writer (instead of identifying yourself by the much easier day job title of lawyer or IT tech). The inevitable question is “what you have written?”, followed by “where have you been published?” “Nowhere” is such an unsatisfactory answer.

These are the pitfalls of being a real writer. But does that mean you stop calling yourself one?

Ask yourself this: if a doctor stops on the side of the road to administer emergency medical attention, is she no longer a doctor because she isn’t getting paid for it? If a musician plays a free concert with a bunch of other amateurs in the park, is he not a real musician? NO! He does it for love or she does it because it’s what she feels she has to do. Both are valid motivations and neither is money-based.

Fame and success can happen overnight. Ask any YouTube sensation. Paradoxically, such overnight success often takes years of hard work.

So remember this: you’re a real writer. Tell yourself that a hundred times a day in front of the mirror. If you stick with it, one day you will be a published one too.

Photo courtesy of Kittikun Atsawintarangkul at freedigitalphotos.net

Following up on your Query Letter (Without Nagging)

Right now I'm in the exciting and nerve wracking position of having a half dozen queries and manuscript submissions out there in the cold hard world.  I sent the oldest of these out about a month and a half ago.  So, the question becomes, when do I start worrying about getting a response to this manuscript query?  In other words, when do I start panicking?

The Waiting Game

Most publishers or literary agents state right in their submission guidelines when you should expect a response...if you are successful.  If you're not successful, the assumption is that you pick a date in the future, after the estimated timeline they've suggested, to haul out your pending submissions spreadsheet, put a strike through their name, and sob into your keyboard.

But, wait a second, is this always the case?

Some publishers or agents will tell you that you should re-query or inquire about your submission if you haven't received a response within a certain time.  DO IT.  You shouldn't delay on following up with a submission.  The longer you wait, the harder it will be.  Don't procrastinate on this.

Even if the submission guidelines don't specifically tell you to follow up on a query that falls outside of their estimated timeline for a response, you can still follow up if that time has expired.  Be polite in your second letter.  Don't point fingers or try to guilt them.  The timelines set out in submission guidelines are just an estimate.  As with any estimate, it may be off the mark in your particular case.  Don't freak out.

Don't Call Me, I'll Call You

Just because an agent or editor lists a phone number on their website (or you've managed to track it down through internet stalking) doesn't mean you have permission to use it.

Don't pick up the phone and reach out to someone just because you're upset that their review of your query has taken longer than expected.  Everyone is busy and publishers or agents more so.

Follow Up in Writing

I would suggest you send a polite professional letter in the same tone as your original query.  Mention that you sent your query on such-and-such date and that you are inquiring as to the status of it.  You can then include the information in your original query for ease of reference.  Hey, I'm all about ease of reference.

Rather than have to search through their entire inbox for your original email, it may make the publisher or agent's life easier if you just reproduce the information you first sent.  They will appreciate the thoughtfulness.

And yes, that means including the blurb, the biography, the whole shebang.  Just copy and paste the original query text below your first paragraph.  You can even mention that you're doing this for their ease of reference.

So, what now?

Your query may still be in a long queue, waiting for someone to look at it, but you may find out what the new estimated timelines are for a response.  Make a note of it and send out a third query at the end of that time.

Or the response may simply be "oh, we forgot to tell you, your writing sucked and we sent the original query into space to save the world from it".  Oh well, at least you know.  But seriously, move on to the next publisher or agent on your list.  Send out a new query.  Lather.  Rinse.  Repeat.  But always repeat.

Photo courtesy of Salvatore Vuono at freedigitalphotos.net

Submissions: How Not To Give In

I've written before about the agonies of waiting for a response to a writing submission.  It's been more than a week (nearly two) since I sent in my first romance manuscript to Carina Press.

Although I received the auto-response saying that they received my submission, the submission guidelines on the Carina Press website say that I should wait twelve to sixteen weeks for an editorial response.

Twelve to sixteen weeks!?!

I know that's not long in the grand scheme of things, and certainly much shorter than the response times I've grown accustomed to from literary journals, but it's three or four months of waiting when the stakes are personally very high.  Therein lies the agony.

Writing a book is like, well, you've heard all of the analogies.  Most often, you hear "giving birth to a child".  I wouldn't have any firsthand knowledge of that one but just let me say "oh no" and "ouch!".

So, other than twiddling my spacebar-pressers endlessly, what do I do?

Well, in the meantime, I lessen the agony with worrying to my friends and family, my writing group, and taking occasional forays into the Harlequin forums, which are filled with people in the same position as me.  It helps to see others suffering the same agony (there must be a long German word for the phenomenon) but mostly it helps to commiserate and know that I'm not alone.

We're all in the same boat, sink or swim.  The few of us who are thrown a life jacket in the form of a R & R (revise and resubmit) or a request for the full manuscript (full request) are celebrated by the whole community.  It's a great feeling of fellowship and sympathy, even when you lurk around the forums as I often do.

The best advice I've read on the Submission Care forums is also the most frequent: keep at it.  Keep submitting your manuscripts even if you receive the dreaded R -- a rejection without any feedback.  I've had those.  They smart.

And, most important of all, keep writing.  While I'm waiting on the response to my first Carina Press submission, I will be writing my second -- and while I'm waiting for the reply on that one, I'll be writing my third.  Because (I think) each one gets a little (or a lot) better and each one takes me closer to my goal of a published romance novel.

For all of you out there in the same situation, good luck!  You're not alone.

Romance Novel Submission, or Waiting for Success

I try to be positive.  Generally speaking (and my family and friends will vouch for this), I am an optimist.  I typically believe that everything will work out, at some point, in some way.  The situation may not turn out exactly the way I wanted but I tend to believe that it was for the best anyway.

The same attitude applies to adversity.  I forge through, I employ all of my experience/ skills/ knowledge, and usually everything is roses.  Or crabgrass.  But the point is, I get through it.

Why, then, do I find it so unbearable to wait for the response to my romance novel submission?

Well, for one thing, it's been more than six months since my first chapter was rejected in the Mills & Boon New Voices competition.  I felt really badly about my writing for a really long time.

But the New Voices contest was not my first tango.

Years ago, I wrote a series of terrible historical romances which I deemed too terrible to see the light of day.

Then, more recently, I spent a good chunk of the past decade writing nearly a dozen contemporary romances.  I sent many of these out to Harlequin and was rejected, again and again, in increasingly terse letters.

I am a many time loser.  So why do I keep trying?  Why am I still so optimistic about the chance that I will one day become...dat dat duuuuuh...a published romance novelist?  There are a few reasons.

Keep learning

Every time I sit down to produce a romance manuscript (not an easy process, despite my numerous completed mss), I'm more knowledgeable about my writing and the romance genre.  I've read more articles on the subject.  I have used the internet to learn about romance novel writing and my subscription to writing magazines to think about the craft in general.

Be prepared

I have put more energy into crafting the plot, characters and structure of my novel before I even sit down in front of the computer.  Because this isn't my first manuscript, I've thought through the old tropes and come up with ways to make the storyline more interesting and captivating (I hope) for my mythical reader.

In addition, my preparing extends to the post-production process.  I've learned to edit myself carefully and have others (usually in my writing group) to review my work and offer constructive criticism.  I've also researched the possible markets and publishers for my work and polished my query letter.

Turn rejection into motivation

Every time one of my manuscripts is rejected, this spurs me to create something better the next time.  If I receive actual advice, I scour my work to see where I can apply it.  Basically, I am always trying to improve my book.  Not just for myself, so that I can be a better writer, but because I have a goal in mind.

I will be published.  Aside from everything else I'm doing to better my writing, I will continue to stay positive.

Photo courtesy of Sayan Samana at freedigitalphotos.net