- Joined
- Oct 7, 2007
- Messages
- 896
- Reaction score
- 112
- Age
- 56
- Location
- Midwest
- Website
- remus-shepherd.livejournal.com
Hi, folks. Haven't been on these boards much but I wandered back here. Let me give you a quick C.V. of me as a writer:
First published a short story 20 years ago.
Published one more short since then.
Was told by a famous editor to write novels.
Have since written five novels.
I get accolades from everyone. No less than four Hugo award-winning writers have told me I'm a "great writer" and "on the cusp".
Haven't gotten published.
Haven't gotten an agent.
I have a crit group. They tell me I'm amazing and they point out typos...that's it. I've got nowhere to improve and I have nobody that can help me improve.
I sent my last novel to nine agents. Three replied; all rejections. Six of them didn't give me the courtesy of a reply.
A Hugo winning editor, at a workshop where he was supposed to edit submissions, looked at one of my shorts and declared no edits were needed. That same editor then asked me to send him a novel. He never got back to me. Over the next four years I sent him two SASEs and he never replied. I hope he at least steamed the stamps off and used them again; be a shame to waste the postage.
(If anyone wants names to connect to the people I've mentioned, I'll give them. I no longer give a damn about protecting the guilty. Some of them are, or were, on these boards.)
So. I am unable to break into traditional publishing.
It's not lack of skill, clearly. I write gud.
It's not lack of determination. After 20 years of doing this, I think I have displayed my stamina.
All I can think of is that I'm weird, and offputting, and socially awkward. And it appears that the ability to socialize outweighs writing quality when it comes to getting published. Luck and social skills matter, writing does not.
So tell me why I shouldn't quit.
And note that I consider self-publishing to be quitting. I'm not social enough to make a connection with an editor or agent, there's no way I'm going to build a readership.
At this point, my inability to publish has poisoned everything in my life. I no longer want to write, or even read, because those activities feel like gateways to a world where I've been unfairly excluded. Spending 20 years on this pursuit prevents me from beginning any other long-term projects. I feel worthless and alone, and I hate, hate, an industry which I used to love.
Help me out here. Anyone?
First published a short story 20 years ago.
Published one more short since then.
Was told by a famous editor to write novels.
Have since written five novels.
I get accolades from everyone. No less than four Hugo award-winning writers have told me I'm a "great writer" and "on the cusp".
Haven't gotten published.
Haven't gotten an agent.
I have a crit group. They tell me I'm amazing and they point out typos...that's it. I've got nowhere to improve and I have nobody that can help me improve.
I sent my last novel to nine agents. Three replied; all rejections. Six of them didn't give me the courtesy of a reply.
A Hugo winning editor, at a workshop where he was supposed to edit submissions, looked at one of my shorts and declared no edits were needed. That same editor then asked me to send him a novel. He never got back to me. Over the next four years I sent him two SASEs and he never replied. I hope he at least steamed the stamps off and used them again; be a shame to waste the postage.
(If anyone wants names to connect to the people I've mentioned, I'll give them. I no longer give a damn about protecting the guilty. Some of them are, or were, on these boards.)
So. I am unable to break into traditional publishing.
It's not lack of skill, clearly. I write gud.
It's not lack of determination. After 20 years of doing this, I think I have displayed my stamina.
All I can think of is that I'm weird, and offputting, and socially awkward. And it appears that the ability to socialize outweighs writing quality when it comes to getting published. Luck and social skills matter, writing does not.
So tell me why I shouldn't quit.
And note that I consider self-publishing to be quitting. I'm not social enough to make a connection with an editor or agent, there's no way I'm going to build a readership.
At this point, my inability to publish has poisoned everything in my life. I no longer want to write, or even read, because those activities feel like gateways to a world where I've been unfairly excluded. Spending 20 years on this pursuit prevents me from beginning any other long-term projects. I feel worthless and alone, and I hate, hate, an industry which I used to love.
Help me out here. Anyone?
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