I have so much more to say on this topic but I can’t seem to put it into coherent words (I’ve tried all day). So I’ll have to ponder and post my own blog entry on the topic.

But I do have to thank all of you who do try to help out those of us who are new and thirsty for information. I can understand how easy it would be to get jaded in your position: the same questions, the same misconceptions, yadda yadda. And I applaud all of you for your patience. You guys are true mentors.

I had all these ideas that I’d finish my book it would be pick up (of course it would) and out on the shelf in a years time.

How crazy was I??? Very Crazy.

But, I’ve listened, watched, and read from who I believe are some of the very best. And I have learned.

Thank you for that. I now know that it will take time and the rejections will come. They will still hurt, but I will live and I will continue to write. Why? Because I belong to a great group who when I say “I’m not a writer” they’ll tell me with understanding and love “Yes, you are.” Then they’ll tell me to get back in the chair with the tone of an older sister who really does know better.

I think Phyllis is right that it’s hard to walk the line between being helpful and being condescending. That’s really what worries me… Not that I’m being too honest, just that I’m being condescending…

I’m sure in another 4 years, I’ll look back at what I know now and shake my head at my current self, too…

One thing I’ve certainly learned in my (almost…6 more months) 40 years is that there are just a lot of things you have to learn by doing, messing up, trying again, absorbing, doing again, trial and error…

Marley = )

But I don’t think you can tell a new writer that things will happen at the right time. Or that they will not necessarily happen the way they plan out. (Loved your story, Diana, by the way!) It’s all a learning process, and I’m glad I went through it, and I try really hard to remember that when I’m around someone completely new at this game…I was there once, too.

Shannon

Words to live by.

If only I’d known…..

hehehe

the first book I wrote I had the audacity to submit to Harlequin. They requested a full. I was starry eyed and in heaven, convinced I was going to be one of the lucky ones and get my very first book published.

It garnered a form rejection letter.

The only thing I did in the beginning that I think was smart was finish a book and write another. Then finish a book and write another. Instead of waiting for glory to show up at my doorstep, I kept working. And with each book, I learned more. Got involved with RWA and critique groups. And with every step and every year and every milestone, I realize how little I knew back then.

Even now as I’m entering a new phase in my career I’m realizing how little I still know, how much I still have to learn.

I’m sure 5 years from now I’ll look back on today and shake my head and say if only I’d known…

We never know it all. And those that think they do….dayum. *g*

I always draw parallels between publishing and lawyering, because I’ve spend 20 years in the legal profession. Beginning lawyers — affectionately referred to as “baby lawyers” behind their backs — all seem to make the same mistakes and exhibit the same characteristics. They come out of law school thinking they know everything about being a lawyer, when really all they know about is how to take law school exams. But it’s the whole process of moving from point A to point B which transforms them into competent and even great lawers — it’s a process that takes about 5 years, in the opinion of many of my colleagues.

I think it’s the same with writers. You have to go through the process and pay your dues. And in many ways, ignorance is bliss. How many of us would have ever written that first book if we’d known that its purpose really was to teach us how to write a book, and that most likely we wouldn’t publish until we had completed not only that one but several more. And how much would be taken away from the joy of typing “The End” for the first time if we had never thought of it as a “real” — translate publishable — book in the first place? Writing a book is hard. Not just the skill of it, but the perseverence. Most people who start never finish. It’s blind faith, I think, that gets most us through the first one — blind faith and visions of glory.

The tough thing, IMO, is to be helpful and share our knowledge with newbies without squashing those tender dreams.

Sorry to ramble here — it’s just such a thought-provoking topic.

I was so full of myself and the possibilities of my future I took 2000 pens with my name and website printed on them to give away in the goody room that year. Yes, I’m nuts.

I sat in the audience of the GH/RITA awards that first conference and watched big-eyed as other writers lived out my dreams. I leaned over to my chapter president as the GH winners were being announced and whispered, “Next year, that will be me.”

Lo and behold, that next year I was a GH finalist. (Talk about a shocker.)

Another year later and I have a fabulous agent at the agency that was my number one pick from the get go. (Hi Elaine!)

Have I sold yet? No, but I’m confident it will happen. Is my story typical? No, but it’s proof that amazing things do happen to those who persevere.