I just wonder if it's time to quit.

I don' t know. You've been in the business for years. You see your work slowly improve. But you aren't moving up into those better markets, and this year started out slow.

You have in the past gotten published here and there and you work your heart out, you really think this is the best story you can do for this particular market (a big-name anthology), you agonize over every word, you think the subject matter and treatment are perfect, and it comes flying back with a "Nicely written, but no resolution and very familiar" type of reject.


What do you do when your best isn't good enough?

Sailor, you're breaking my heart. Here I am thinking the very same kind of thoughts. :head

I believe, the right time to quit is only when you've achieved every goal you could think of for yourself. When you can't see how you can do it better any more (if it's ever possible). And I believe that this very moment, now, is exactly the wrongest moment to quit. This is the moment of change, the moment when the quantity (of writing, patience, determination) is going to turn into quality, and pretty soon, too. If you quit now, you'd be doomed--but I'm pretty sure you won't. Whatever creativity there is in you would be doomed, too (what a loss!!!). If you hold on, very soon you'll see positive changes. They're inevitable, it's a law of nature. Too many people confuse this "black moment" with the end of their creative lives. It's so wrong. This is only a test.

So hold on, Sailor, and whatever you do, just keep on writing.g

Thanks, Fresie. I really appreciate what you said.

Someone else just told me, "If you stop polishing your craft, then where will you be when the next opportunity comes?"

(But still .... waaaahhhhhh)

You might want to try a change of pace. Take a class, try writing in a different genre, even non-fiction. Read someone's work you admire and try to imitate it, not for publication, but to figure out what it is you admire about it. Maybe if you back off from trying to write something publishable and do something fresh for 3 or 6 months, you will have something fresh to take back to those stories. I have found that the crossover between writing fiction and nonfiction has helped me write better in both genres. My storytelling is better in nonfiction after some fiction writing and my ability to use detail effectively in fiction is enhanced by researching and writing nonfiction. Sometimes you have to do something drastic to get out of your rut and rejuvenate your interest in your craft.

hi

Just keep going. Writers write because they like to write, not because they get published. Getting published is just icing on the inside of the cake. When people buy your writing, it's icing on the cake.

Being content with who you are is the most prized possession that one can have.

Re: hi

Writers write because they like to write, not because they get published.

Hey, that's a nice notion! I need to remind myself about it more often. Thanks!

Hmm. I think I may writer exactly because I do want to be published -- but if things have been a bit slow, or a story just won't sell I will send it to a less selective non-paying market just to cheer myself up and get a free magazine

I'm working on another story for that anthology. And thinking where to send the one they rejected.

Hmm

Just a thought . . .
Have you tried any non-fiction?
Might work as an inroad . . .

Cate

Re: Hmm

Thanks, Cate. I used to write a LOT of nonfiction. I've been scribbling op-ed notes for a while now, so that might be a good thing to pursue.

Know any good op-ed markets?

Re: Hmm

Indeed, when you're banging your head against a wall :head a detour can help :gone

I think I try is sitting down and scrawling out piles of material without editing too much and just shoot them of to any plausible market.

Sometime I go through the hard-drive and try tarting up old stuff for new markets.

If I need some success to cheer me up I search for obscrure marketes that seem really desperate and learn all about what ever topic they want stuff on (tickle torture, amateur shortwave radio enthusiasts, belly dancing, whatever! Google is your friend).

> Rejection and Dejection

I don't think I've ever had thoughts of writing for an actual living. I've been writing with publishing in mind, but at at a snail's pace since arround 1970. I only submit to magazines with either a 100,000 plus circulation, or to some few lits that I like. I've had a successful career outside of writing, and have been retired from the bring-home-the-bacon job since 1998.

If I hit a mega-lottery tomorrow, I'd be figuring out how I can turn it into a dynamite story.

Re: > Rejection and Dejection

Don't forget, in the big markets, it is a lot about who you know. Were you able to name drop in your cover letter or query? "So and so (who the editor knows and you know) said I should send this story on to you..." Maybe they have a lot of stories by the clients of agents they do lunch with, ya' know? As much as we hate to admit it, this still happens a lot. Just because one place isn't going to let you get the foot in the door, doesn't mean it's going to be that way across the board. Keep trying. I heard there was one lady who got 900 rejections before she finally got published, but she never gave up, at 901, she hit it big.

Re: > Rejection and Dejection

Don't forget, in the big markets, it is a lot about who you know. Were you able to name drop in your cover letter or query? "So and so (who the editor knows and you know) said I should send this story on to you..." Maybe they have a lot of stories by the clients of agents they do lunch with, ya' know? As much as we hate to admit it, this still happens a lot. Just because one place isn't going to let you get the foot in the door, doesn't mean it's going to be that way across the board. Keep trying. I heard there was one lady who got 900 rejections before she finally got published, but she never gave up, at 901, she hit it big.

Click to expand...

This was some little ol' web site looking for reprints! :b

Sailor

Keep pluggin.
It stinks to get a rejection (or many), but you just never know what is around that corner.
Gambatte, ne!
(Japanese for "keep your chin up!")
Cate

for those who wonder if it's time to quit yet.

For all of you who are wondering if it's time to quit yet..I just looked at my watch and no...no...it's not time yet.:grin

My mom always says "If you throw enough mud against the wall...at some point, some of it is bound to stick."

Let's all hang in there together, ok?

:hug

Re: for those who wonder if it's time to quit yet.

My mom always says "If you throw enough mud against the wall...at some point, some of it is bound to stick."

Click to expand...

I love it! :lol

Re: for those who wonder if it's time to quit yet.

ms pasquale, that is perfect. :thumbs

Sailor, hang in there. You are bound to sell something! Don't let those rejections get to you, okay? I know all too well how hard it can be after you've poured your heart and soul into something.

One thing you can do, as vein suggests, is submit it to a nonpaying market. I may get pounced for this, but look at it this way: It's getting into print that will cheer you up more than any check would. Seriously.

Keep in mind that you don't need to be published to be a writer. Ask yourself WHY you are writing and WHY you want to be a writer. Just "keep on keepin' on."

But if you're talking about quitting freelancing, then only you can make that decision.

Good luck!

--Dawn

Re: for those who wonder if it's time to quit yet.

If you shoot for the stars, you're bound to hit the sky.

Re: for those who wonder if it's time to quit yet.

Hey, sailor!

I've thought about quitting for years, especially after running into so many naysayers and receiving buckoos of rejection slips. g But then I get the itch to write and I do it anyway. Long before I thought about writing to get published, I wrote because I loved it, and the heck with everyone else. I wrote for myself and didn't necessarily think first about the markets. Now I'm trying to strike a happy medium between the two extremes.

Never lose your love of writing. It'll pull you through. :thumbs And know we all hit the wall sometimes!

Annie

Re: for those who wonder if it's time to quit yet.

Thanks! :heart

Re: > Rejection and Dejection

Don't forget, in the big markets, it is a lot about who you know.

Click to expand...

No, it isn;t about who you know in the big markets, it's strictly about how good you are.

I've sold to a bunch of the biggest markets without knowing anyone, and I've bought for big markets from writers who knew no one.

I have some close friends who are editors at the largest magazines and book publishers, and they don't give a rat's behind who teh writer does or doesn't know.

At most, at the absolute most, knowing someone will get you past the first reader, but this is all it ever does.

The ONLY difference between selling to small markets and selling to top markets is the level of competition. You simply have to be a better writer to sell to top markets. Editors simply don't care who you know, they just want the best writing they can get.

Re: > Rejection and Dejection

No, it isn;t about who you know in the big markets, it's strictly about how good you are.

Click to expand...

Well, that's a relief, because I'm a hermit! :lol

I'm right there with all of you. I've been writing for a number of years, everything from the college newspaper to six or seven unfinished novels. (I've lost count...how pathetic is that?) Sometimes I feel like ditching all this, but because I love it so much, I'm not ready to give up. Ask me again in another ten years.

With the help of a few wonderful people out there who I love and appreciate more than words can say, I have stuck it out for much longer than I had ever hoped. Writing is one of the most enjoyable things in the world, but it can be just as miserable. Sounds a lot like love, doesn't it?

Don't give up yet.

Elise

Thanks!