Comments on: Staying Strong

By: Barb Riley

Barb Riley — Tue, 09 Aug 2011 16:49:21 +0000

Good idea Victoria!!! I find myself overwhelmed by the amount of revisions I’m facing, and to think that I’m just focusing on one tiny piece at a time for a short period of time each day would probably make me feel a ton better and get me past my current staring-at-the-screen-frozen-with-horror-at-impending-edits phase. : )

By: April

April — Fri, 06 May 2011 15:00:48 +0000

I figured out a long time ago that I’m project oriented. It doesn’t matter if its a floral design, painting and staining, gardening, cooking or cleaning house, I even turned quitting smoking into a project and it worked. I just had to be careful that when the project was over I couldn’t go back to smoking. So with that I usually finish what I start. When I think I’m walking away something usually catches my eye and brings me back to it, or that paragraph that was mentioned earlier pops in my head and I have to stop what I’m doing and go write it down.

As for cutting. I save a junk page where I copy and paste the things I deleted. That way if its good, its not lost. When I’m a little more objective, I go through it to see if that piece might be used somewhere else. Possibly my next book? Usually, I find that it is repetitive and I did a much better job communicating it somewhere else in the work.

As for a professional coming through and telling me I need to do this and I need to do that, is something I have yet to experience. I too wonder if I will come out of it all bruised and battered and sulk about it.

By: Victoria Laurie

Victoria Laurie — Wed, 04 May 2011 16:58:22 +0000

I set small goals for myself – 10 new pages by 4:00 p.m., or 25 pages revised before I can get up from the chair. If you look at just the small goal in front of you, and not at the giant mountain of work you have to accomplish in the next 30 days, it’s completely doable and it keeps you from feeling overwhelmed. I also consider revisions a form of bulletproofing. It’s my editor’s job to point out the holes in the dyke, and it’s my job to fix them so that the story holds water by the time it heads to print. Writing is WAY more about problem solving than most people realize.

As for querying – well, to all of you out there feeling defeated or discouraged today; I quieried 119 other agents, (who all said no) before I got to Mr. McCarthy who finally said yes. Hang. In. There!

By: Joelle

Joelle — Wed, 04 May 2011 16:48:03 +0000

Well, first you have to become a vegan and get a neti pot, and then it will all make sense (corporate auditing is the odd one out).

Actually, the editing is the fun bit, so that part, even cutting stuff I love is not a problem. But the business side of writing can be a real drag (it can also be pretty dang cool!). I think the real trick is to have a life outside of writing. And a good support network.

By: PW Creighton

PW Creighton — Wed, 04 May 2011 15:52:26 +0000

It can be very difficult to keep to the path with so many things that can hinder or deter you. I’ve found that as you mature as a writer you learn more and more about the industry. You no longer take things so personally. You know you’re meant to write when everything keeps guiding you towards various writing outlets. When the story consumes you so that you need to get it out, there’s not much choice. Sure there are speed bumps but it’s a journey not a destination.

By: Nancy Parish

Nancy Parish — Wed, 04 May 2011 15:12:03 +0000

When I find myself getting frustrated with writing or the query process etc, this quote helps me get back on track.

“When nothing seems to help, I go and look at a stonecutter hammering away at his rock perhaps a hundred times without as much as a crack showing in it. Yet at the hundred and first blow it will split in two, and I know it was not that blow that did it, but all that had gone before.” — Jacob August Riis

-NAP

By: Sheila Hurst

Sheila Hurst — Wed, 04 May 2011 14:06:08 +0000

It’s something probably most writers have to do, even if it makes us a little insane at times. But then I think I would be even more insane if I didn’t write. When I have given up, it’s been for short time periods and then phrases or paragraphs will start jumping into my head and I have to write them down.

I always try to remember that the failure isn’t in writing something and being rejected, the failure is in not writing at all.

By: Irene Vernardis

Irene Vernardis — Wed, 04 May 2011 09:25:55 +0000

Hi.

Quote: “…I will never understand. Corporate auditing;”
LOL, well I could help with that, as a former corporate auditor :D. But I don’t think it will be interesting; only to auditors it is, it’s in their blood because an auditor gets contaminated. 😀

I think that any production needs persistence, either it is a book or a painting or an airplane or a new gadget. All products can be rejected, but if they’re good eventually they will appeal to consumers.
Every producer (with the exception of big shots companies, that applies also to big shots authors) will go through the process of rejection from the market.

But if the product is good and the producer is persistent, then the market will eventually accept it and/or crave it. 😀

Thank you for the interesting post

By: David Anaxagoras

David Anaxagoras — Wed, 04 May 2011 06:47:05 +0000

I usually go ahead and give up. Declare defeat. Binge on Little Debbie snack cakes and fall asleep naked on the cold, hard floor of my kitchen, quietly weeping.

I’m usually back at the keyboard the next day. Can’t stay away.

Writer.

By: Naomi Canale

Naomi Canale — Wed, 04 May 2011 06:25:44 +0000

What a great post. For me personally, I always think back to Laurie Halse Anderson advice, “Your first draft is only 15% of the work.” Also I jump in with the hopes of, well I’m writing every day so I know it’ll get better with each day. And happiness is key to rejection for me. My family is what matters most and they keep me sane and smiling, a lot!