May's RWR had a timely article by RWA's answer to Dr. Phil, Sheila Rabe, titled Surviving Setbacks. Now, as I am in the muddling middle of second book syndrome, I found it very appropriate. "Your editor hated the proposal for your option book...and the six others with which you followed up?" Close, but not quite. She thought the option was a Blaze, the sequel too. She liked the proposal of the next two...one was a revisions snafu and the other...? Waiting to hear. I must be paying my cosmic dues in arears.
Sheila suggests I ask myself a few questions to help get back on track. Without whining I am sure.
What put me here? In this rejection merry-go-round? Being over eager. My option book fit with Just One Spark, but now that I've read other books in the line I completely undstand why it didn't gel with MX. I'm on the spicy side of MX. Heck, I may be the MX ceiling of heat, and that story was...um...yeah. The same thing with the next rejection - I wrote the book while waiting to hear her thoughts on the synopsis and it was a Blaze too. The R on a proposal was fine, but Rs on completed books knock me to the ground.
What am I supposed to learn? To be patient. Patience is a virtue I do not possess. At least not with myself.
What am I going to do about it? Respect the process. And distract myself. I've been trying this with short stories (whish seems to only up my rejection total) and articles in between books so I don't focus so much on trying to have a book waiting 'in case' and take whatever comments I get on this one to heart before starting a new one. Gulp. I think I have enough to keep me busy. This is a hard one for me - Sheila says to look at your map and find new routes to your destination. I want an 'other books by' page in really tiny print to fit them all on. I want a congratulations on your 50th book RWR. I think I am on the right road, maybe I just need a new car.
How can I get around this? Reevaluate myself? I think I want to please so badly I may be trying too hard. I actually think my former editor may have recognized this when she assigned me to a new editor I won't be so in awe of. Not that I am not in awe of her, but I hated taking the time of the super busy executive editor. Crap. Digging a hole here, so I'll shut it. Remake myself? I think that's what I'm trying to do with the articles, and reading. Not that I'll ever try to write a Roman historical or a paranormal, but it is good to let my mind stretch that way and get a broader dose of reading.
That's the gist of the article. I went through the steps and answered the hard questions. And now I have to learn to...wait.
3 comments:
Good luck with the patience thing, Jenna. It's so hard, and this business seems to be nothing more than a waiting game more than half the time...
I envy your position, personally. You're a published author! Your first book is out right now! But I understand what you're saying. You feel good for about five minutes and then move on to the next thing to worry about. Like getting pub'd again.
And writers - creative types in general - are full of doubt over their own work. One minute you think you're writing the best thing ever, the next you think it's a huge piece of crap that should be burned.
Yeah I have to say patience is a virtue I do not possess either. I am happy that my mind jumps around at times when patience isn't my friend because I can easily get myself distracted by many other things. Of course, when you are trying to plot out and finish another MS my self induced Adult ADD doesn't help much. But I find if I force myself to take a step back it all starts coming to me in a big way. So take a moment to relax and reflect on what you have accomplished so far and then forge ahead. :)
K - I try to tell myself I made my goal - being published by 30 - and be happy with the one book in case that's all I ever get. And for the most part, I am. But you'll see after you sell - it's as if you grow impossibly hungrier. Even an impressive rejection collection like mine can't make you lose your appetite for it. Of course, I tell myself 'just one more'.
Post a Comment