The Queen Bitch and Pre-Published vs. Unpublished

I woke up this morning and realized I'd been rather quiet on my blog lately. But I've got a good reason. I've been working on editing - editing a story that I want to get out to my line-editing critique partner so I can submit it to an epublisher.

Speaking of epublishers, if you didn't see my news from last week, I was asked by a publisher to submit my werewolf novel, tentatively titled Queen Bitch of Callowwood, for consideration. Last week, they sent me a contract for the publication of Queen Bitch and the novel should be released next year.

I am so excited! This is a dream come true after 25 years of writing stories and hoping to be published. It didn't come without a lot of hard work and effort, particularly letting go of my words, allowing others correct the weaknesses in the story, and rewriting, rewriting, rewriting. I can't tell you how excited I feel with my first contract in hand.

This doesn't mean the hard work is over, it just means I've gotten my foot in the door. Now another editor looks over it and tells me what else I have to modify to make the story the most refined version it can be. I'm looking forward to it despite the changes that may be coming. And also, I'm looking forward to the promotion of it because "published doesn't mean read" and unless folks know the book is there, they won't read it.

So, never give up on the dream of writing. Queen Bitch is not my first completed novel; it's not even my second, but it is the best one so far and the others I've written, after much love and editing, will be out where you can read them, too. Eventually. I've certainly had some demands from some of the Six Sentence Sunday crowd for a few of them! ;)

Good writing is rewriting and and good stories are only good because they've been "peer-reviewed". Take the time and effort and it will pay off in dividends.

Keep writing, keep editing, and eventually someone will ask for your stories (only took me 25 years). ;) It's worth it and the joy you feel when someone wants it is incredible. I dressed up for the occasion.

 Well, okay, it was also Halloween, but I felt like such a star and I got to wear my elbow-length gloves and Cinderella heels.

One thing I'd like to add. If you want to be a published author; you want to make a go of this profession and you're not just dabbling in it, start referring to yourself as a "pre-published" author, rather than an "unpublished" author. It might not seem like a big difference, but mentally, the prefix "pre" sets you up with determination, while "un" suggests you might not ever make it.

Think of it this way: it worked for me. My career in the writing field shot forward after I began calling myself a "pre-published" author. Good luck in all your writing and never give up; never surrender! Happy reading! :)

Rejection and Motivation

No one likes rejection. Heck, boys are afraid to ask out girls because they don't want the possibility of being rejected (or laughed at) for their request. It's a horrible feeling when someone rejects your work, whether its writing of some kind, or artwork, or music, etc. You're putting yourself out there, showing you heart and soul, and someone stomps on you. It crushes you and you want to curl up in a ball and hide.

Rejection can kill your motivation to do what you love doing. It's hard to keep going when someone says your work "sucks". Dear God, how do you face the new day when your heart and soul are lying on the floor, smashed beyond all recognition?

Here's a perspective on this: Rejection says a lot about a person, not only the creator, but the reviewer or critic. Hear me out. Don't jump to conclusions yet.

If your story or work of art, whichever art it is, gets "rejected" by a reviewer, critic, or agent, and you just give up, run away and never look back, perhaps the reviewer was right. Your story wasn't ready for public consumption; you weren't ready for public consumption and you don't have the stamina to go the distance. Perhaps now is a good time to look for another pursuit.

But if you stick with it, after some time away and some rest, you'll see the problems and you'll be able to fix them. Your story will be better. You will be better; better than you used to be, and you're always improving. It shows you're ready to push through the naysayers and take your place among the authors on the bookstore shelves. Never give up; never surrender!

The other side of the coin is about the reviewer, the critic. Perhaps you hit them on an off-day. Maybe they're not into your genre. Maybe their brother just died or was diagnosed with cancer and they can't see any good with anything they received the day you submitted. It's not just about you; it's about them, too.

I recently got my scores back from the Golden Heart competition for RWA. Most of my scores weren't too bad. But one score was so painfully low, it made me grind my teeth. Come on, was it really that bad, especially when every other judge gave it much higher marks? It hurt a little, but it made me realize that I must have hit that person wrong; whether it was because the story was about werewolves and this person HATES werewolves; or this person prefers sweet romances and I'd put in too much sex; or maybe the first three chapters reviewed didn't have enough sex; or maybe the title put them off. Whatever the reason, this person rejected the story harshly and what could I do?

I'll tell you what I'm going to do; I'm going to revise with the help of my critique partners and I'll either resubmit it after I've had some time to reconsider it or I'll submit a different, more refined story next year. I know I'm improving; I can see it in the samples of my writing from one year to the next.

I've heard stories about Clive Cussler and Stephen King and even John Grisham. They were rejected a lot; I think Grisham was rejected over 100 times. But look at them now; they persevered and revised and kept going until they hit the right reviewer, the right agent, who loved their stories. Now they're happily making handfuls of money for those "rejected" stories.

Give yourself permission to take time to revise, to rest, to recharge. Life doesn't stop while you're writing and it can get busy, but your work will be there when you're ready to get back to it and you will improve. Work with your critique partners and see if their suggestions are in line with where you want your story to go. Writing is a tough business, but it's a worthwhile pursuit, too. Never give up; never surrender.

Editing and Critique Partners

Oh, the dreaded E word!

I don't mean "electronic", which gives book publishers hives. No, I mean someone taking a hacksaw to your work and bleeding all over it until you're not sure you ever wrote anything good to begin with.

Editing.

That said, editors have a thankless job. First, the writers come to them, whining and crying, "Oh please edit my work. It's good. It'll be worth your while; you'll see!" And then when they do as the writer asks, and edit to the best of their ability, the writers whine and cry, "Oh, how could you be so cruel? How could you kill my favorite sentences?" They get it coming and going.

The thing is, you can't edit your own work. You can see the story in your mind, but you're too close to it. You can't see where you've failed to explain it well enough or clearly enough through your writing. Worse, what about all the correctly spelled typos? The spellchecker won't catch it when you spell the darn word correctly, even if it's the wrong word. Taylor Mali gives an excellent illustration of why we need editors and proof readers in his poem The Impotence of Proofreading.

Having someone edit your work is nerve-wracking and scary, but the whole point of being a writer is so someone will eventually read your work! And not your mother, who's very proud of you and will tell you your writing is fabulous even when it's crap. Not your friends, either. They're too scared to hurt your feelings because they know this is "your baby".

You need editors and critique partners, people you can trust to tell you where your story needs elaboration, cutting back, or even rewriting. And you have to trust them to look at the story with your best interests at heart. They are there to help you make the story better. Granted, you don't want people who are derisive or so negative they kill your love and urge to write; but you do want people who critique seriously and with the intent to help you. The comments may be hard to read, but they are meant to make your story the best it can be.

The biggest thing you must do is let go of your "Attachment To The Words". You can't have favorite sentences when you hand off your work to an editor. They might get cut or moved or so rearranged they don't look like they did before they left your hands. You have to let it all go. Once it goes to your critique partners, it will change, probably for the better. The good news is you can choose which comments to take to heart and which to ignore. Maybe your reader didn't get what you were trying to say and a little rewording will help. Maybe they jumped the gun too early and the problem will be explained a little later, so you just need a little more setup to prime them.

A big thing to remember: the editor and critique partners are there TO HELP. The more comments they make, the more they care to make your story the best it can be.

I have (currently) four critique partners who help me smooth the rough spots, fill out the descriptions, and edit the crappy word choices I made. They also come from all walks of life: I managed to find a technical writing editor who can fix my word usage (YAY!); I found a scientific writer who enjoys science fiction and romance stories, and reads, a lot; I have a romantic suspense writer who has a great grasp of romantic elements in the crazy world of conflict; and I convinced a science fiction/fantasy writer to critique my work to help me with the paranormal aspects of my stories.

The more people who read your work and offer suggestions, the better. You'll never catch all the little quirks in your stories, but the cleaner you make them, the greater the likelihood you'll win a contract with a publisher and/or agent.

The biggest thing I want to offer: DON'T GIVE UP, even if you have a lot of work to do on the story you had critiqued. So this story wasn't the best; move on to the next one and learn from the mistakes on the first. Deb Coonts mentioned that the first story is good, the second story is great, and the third one is awesome, because she's had practice and learned from the mistakes. Same thing here. Don't give up after the first story if it isn't as good as you thought. The best stories are yet to come! :)