Drives Me Crazy!

The same thing happened to me a couple of days ago when I was in the grocery store. I was talking to a lady who is giving a workshop on getting published, ironically enough, and remembered I was doing the writing thing myself. I said, "Yeah, I'm busting my brain trying to write a good query letter to send out to agents..." She replies with, "Well, I know a local gal who took the self-publishing route, maybe you should look her up to get some advice. Have you ever thought of doing that?" Um, yeah, like five years ago when I didn't know any better.

Sometimes it's better just to keep quiet.

Hang in there.

First they chide you for following that silly dream (why don't you get a real job), then they blame you for not selling a million copies and become rich like JK Rowling. Hmmmm... sounds familiar.



You have a friggin' agent! You'll be published soon. Be proud. And who cares what the others think.

I very rarely talk publically about being a writer. Sometimes, I grumble at work about deadlines, missing of, and sometimes I talk about writing, blocked of, but I rarely go into specifics.

I have a friend who, when introducing me to his other friends, always adds "ANd Pete's a writer."

And then there's an awkward pause and the other person will say something like "Oh. That's cool." or "neat, I used to write a little." Or "I don't really read much...." as if I'm going to get offended and stomp away.

Publically announcing you're a writer is about as comfortable as declaring you strut your stuff on the streets for money.

Tell them nothing....Admit to nothing....Deny everything...

/wraps a dark cloak around himself and sneaks out of the room/

Cav Guy said:

Tell them nothing....Admit to nothing....Deny everything...

/wraps a dark cloak around himself and sneaks out of the room/

Click to expand...

You sound like Dick Cheney now.

My mom called me the other night and said there was a story in the local paper about a woman who had been published. My mom knows I have written one novel and a novella, but she doesn't know that I've decided to trunk them for a while. Anyway, she said that I should check out the lady's publisher to send my work to. I asked her the name of it.

"It's PublishAmerica."

I told her they were a scam outfit, and she said, "Well, this lady seems very happy with them. How bad can they be?"

I went on to tell her all about them. She told me that there had been other stories about PA authors in the paper, and they were all happy with them. "You could just try them and see." Totally clueless.

I understand the frustration. I have just finished my first manuscript and have sent out query letters to several agents. I have some "know it all" friends who know nothing about the publishing industry who think I am now suppose to instantly sell the thing and become a millionaire. Then I have those extra smart ones who tell me I'm crazy, just publish the thing myself. I think from now on I will keep it to myself. They have no idea how much work and effort a person puts into their dream and then will more than likely get the dreaded rejection letters. I say just write on!

I used to have a theory that discussing my WIP would hold me accountable for progress, BIC, finishing!, but now I agree that is kinda causes more trouble than it's worth.

Hey, nomatter what happens you offically have a character named after you in The Blue-Haired Bombshell.

I'm sure you'll be fine with sales.

Parents, well, they are just parents. No matter how many books I sell (which isn't near a million if you add them all up), I still hear from my mother, "You still don't have your Ph.D." Luckily I married one.

I rarely talk about writing to anyone outside of my family. Only a handful of folks at work know that I've written a few novels and seeking an agent.

Fortunately, family questions about my progress tend to go along the lines of:

"How's your book?"
"Still looking for an agent, but I'm not giving up."
"Ah, that's nice. So, how's work?"



No one has ever advised me to self-publish. If they did, my first question would be "Are you going to give me the money to fund it?"

The other thing I get is, when my comic strip doesn't appear in the newspaper people stop me and ask, "What happen to your comic strip today?"

It's like they think I hand deliver the comic strip to the paper everyday. I just politely inform them, "Ah, I email the strips to the syndicate. After that I have no control to where they go."

Cav Guy said:

Tell them nothing....Admit to nothing....Deny everything...

/wraps a dark cloak around himself and sneaks out of the room/

Click to expand...

maestrowork said:

You sound like Dick Cheney now.

Click to expand...

No...I haven't had a hunting 'accident' yet. Perhaps I should take up bird hunting....

Practice a pitying look and bestow it on those who don't know a darned thing about writing and publishing to let them know how dumb you think they are.

Yeah, or two weeks after you tell someone you made a sale, they ask if it's out yet. <grrrr>

Happily, when someone in the know asks me how my book is going, they don't also give suggestions. Maybe it's the scary face I wear? When people ask me what I do for a living, however, they get "I'm an editor," and I get, "So what, you just use spellcheck?" -sigh-

Oh my gosh, don't get me started.

"Well, I've written some novels."

"Any of them published?"

"No."

"Why not?"

"Well, I'm trying to...It's not really that easy to get published."

"Oh..."

It bugs me that everyone thinks it's SO EASY to get published. It's not like once you write THE END, publishers call you up, begging for your manuscript.

People don't understand how writing and/or publishing works. The average person APPEARS to think that just because they use words on a daily basis (hey, I've been talking fluently since I was...3 so I guess I have 23 years writing experience!) , that they've already had all the training they need to be a pro-writer. It's bullshit and I suspect deep in these people's hearts they know it is bullshit as well.

Writing was described as a 'Peter Pan profession', much like being a pro sports player or a race car driver. It cuts right to people's hearts and often makes them think of unfulfilled dreams they once had, hence the animosity you'll get by nearly anyone in the civillized world when you say "I'm a writer". The level of derivishness and scorn is at such a level that-in my opinion- it perfectly shows that these people really DON'T believe "its so easy" but only come off with that attitude because, for some reason, it makes them instantly insecure with themselves. Really, try it. Tell a room full of non-writers that you're a writer and you'll instantly see people's defense mechanisms go up with a display of their egos to try to hide the discomfort they feel.

I think that the reason people are like that is because writing SEEMS like the easiest thing in the world.. but it isn't and the average person knows it isn't but perhaps can't figure out why. And so they assume it is some type of flaw within themselves. "It seems so easy, why can't I do it?". Modeling doesn't even raise anywhere near the level of scorn that writing does and there are loads of so-called 'easy' jobs in the world, but none of them stab into people's psyches like writing does. There's a reason for this and it sure ain't because people truly think its the easiest job in the world.

BS

Heck, I got asked by some dimwit recently, "So, do you really need an agent?"

Weeeeell...unless I want to turn into a lawyer, accountant, publisher, editor, manager and publicist, then YES, duh!

What weirds me out is that before I got into the writing thing, the concept of being published seemed impossible to me not super easy. Like how did someone who wrote something get made into thousands of copies with a cover and everything. How does one little book get so much attention from so many different people (I'm talking about during the publishing process, not even the readers). There is something so permanent about books. They last for centuries. The idea that something you wrote is down on paper, practically carved in stone, and other people are reading it . . . the whole thing seemed impossible to me!

How about "well, you don't need to edit your own book, do you? once they buy it, the editors will go in and polish it for you."

ummm... no. just. no.

That said, I must be really lucky because most of the people who end up hearing about my writing dreams are really supportive and don't make stupid comments. it's more like "so, what are you working on? can I read it?"

And sometimes they do and give fantastic feedback that's improved my manuscript, which is really nice.

When I told my mother that I had an agent she started telling people I had a publisher. When I corrected her she told my aunt "Sean has an agent."

My aunt's reaction: "That sounds like a scam to me."

Toothpaste said:

What weirds me out is that before I got into the writing thing, the concept of being published seemed impossible to me not super easy. Like how did someone who wrote something get made into thousands of copies with a cover and everything. How does one little book get so much attention from so many different people (I'm talking about during the publishing process, not even the readers). There is something so permanent about books. They last for centuries. The idea that something you wrote is down on paper, practically carved in stone, and other people are reading it . . . the whole thing seemed impossible to me!

Click to expand...

I have always had the same feelings. To me, getting published seemed daunting, not easy. I wonder what makes us different?