Losing Hope

Filigree · Aug 17, 2011

Don't look now, but the hell -- or the potential for hell -- doesn't end. I've been reading up on best-selling, award-winning authors who've had to change publishers years down the road. The chances of staying with your first publisher may be slightly better than the national U.S. statistics on divorce.

But don't freeze, either. Write, finish book, get agent, get publisher, get sales, write again, rinse & repeat. Find joy in the writing, at least, and keep going!

blacbird · Aug 19, 2011

Filigree said:
Write, finish book, ~~get agent, get publisher, get sales,~~ write again, rinse & repeat.

Corrected editorially to reflect my personal history in this endeavor.

caw

Filigree · Aug 20, 2011

Mine, too, in all likelihood. This isn't one climb up one mountain. It's more like struggling over the first ridge and seeing a continent of Everests ahead.

blacbird · Aug 21, 2011

I just love how easily "Get an agent" slips out as a piece of simple writer's advice from some voices here. Every time I go to the agent store to obtain one, the damn place is closed and dark.

caw

Drachen Jager · Aug 21, 2011

I think the agent part is the toughest nut. But just having an agent does not immunise you against future rejection. There are no magic bullets or magic agents.

MacAllister · Aug 21, 2011

blacbird said:
I just love how easily "Get an agent" slips out as a piece of simple writer's advice from some voices here. Every time I go to the agent store to obtain one, the damn place is closed and dark.

caw

Yep. It's hard.

Lots of things are hard. Most of us are never going to be able to do advanced calculus for JPL, pitch for the Yankees, have our own sell-out show in a top-flight Chelsea art gallery, or play the violin with the London Philharmonic, either. And that's the level of play we're all ultimately talking about, isn't it? If it wasn't so hard, there'd be a lot more novelists.

And realistically, many of us here will never get even as far as landing an agent -- and like Drachen Jager said, landing that agent still doesn't guarantee selling the book.

It's damned hard. And it's intensely competitive. And there are days it plain sucks rocks, Blac. And you either keep slugging it out, or you scale back your ambition, or you just plain quit and take up board games or woodcarving or model-railroads. We all face that choice every time it gets hard. Even people who've already sold a book or three.

But that doesn't alter the way it works. And if what you want to do is write and publish with one of the big six, the fact that it's difficult still doesn't alter the path most people are going to need to take to get there.

Miss Plum · Aug 21, 2011

I'm very grateful for this thread. Just bombed out in the first round of submissions. "We are not taking on high-risk projects in this economy" x7. Going out again in September. The hell never ends.

Filigree · Aug 22, 2011

Miss Plum, we're all masochists here. That's the only reasonable explanation.

We're involved in an activity that offers very little real financial payoff, takes unbelievable amounts of time from our daily lives, is misunderstood by nearly everyone around us, and is fraught with frustration at every step. And yet, we keep on doing it.

Because writers can't NOT write. It just happens, and we muddle along thinking 'I might as well try to make some cash off this.'

MacAllister · Aug 22, 2011

Garrison Keillor pointed out on PHC, yesterday, that aspiring novelists have a lot in common with dogs who just won't stop chasing cars. :/

Filigree · Aug 22, 2011

Yep. It's either sheer stubborn bloody-mindedness, or unflagging optimism.

I walked away from my writing for ten years, to build a career in an art field. I missed writing. When time allowed, I noodled around with little writing challenges that I had no intention of publishing. It was the best thing I could have done. When the real writing bug -- the idea of publishing -- bit again, I was ready. This year, I've had several small victories and encouragements that tell me I'm closer to being publishable than I ever was.

Sure, I get depressed and frustrated. Being rejected over 50 times by agencies can do that. Trying this stunt in a down economy, with e-publishing and the big six houses skirmishing in an already-bloated market -- utter madness. But I'm happier writing than I was not-writing. It's another form of art, and for me, if I don't do something creative every day, I go stir-crazy. I have the added advantage of my art training: if I don't make it, I can't sell it or get awards for it, so I might as well make the damned thing just for the experience.

midazolam · Aug 22, 2011

I'm in a similar boat, although my agent isn't hugely supportive. Her last e-mail really crushed me. I'm pretty sure she will drop me if my next book doesn't sell (my first and only one did not sell after the first round, and we gave up on it).

This is my second agent, so I'm not sure I can go through the query-go-round again. I'm just losing faith in myself, my writing, and this whole process.

Not sure it's really worth it anymore.

AshRose · Aug 22, 2011

I wish I could offer some words of solace, but I haven't even gotten to a fraction of where you have. I agree with Esmerelda...the hell only continues. I would ask why any of us choose this arduous path, but let's be serious...none of us choose to be writers. You just...ARE a writer. I wish you luck.

Losing Hope

Filigree

Mildly Disturbing

blacbird

Filigree

Mildly Disturbing

blacbird

Drachen Jager

Professor of applied misanthropy

MacAllister

Tired and worried.

Miss Plum

Filigree

Mildly Disturbing

MacAllister

Tired and worried.

Filigree

Mildly Disturbing

midazolam

AshRose

Unofficial Expert on Angels