I've reached that wonderful, exasperating time when I have a lot more really solid ideas than I have time to write them.
Go-Go Idea Notebook!
Go-Go Idea Notebook!
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<sigh> Yet another:
"This is a well-written and creative piece, with an imaginative setting and believable characters. I feel it could easily be turned into something much bigger, with the interpreter and the sisterhood having enough potential to fill a novel or more. Although we decided in the end that it wasn't a fit for us, I enjoyed reading it, and I hope you'll consider sending us more of your work some time." Don't get me wrong---I'm delighted to get such positive feedback. I'd just be more delighted if someone would actually buy one of my stories. Yet another Character Building Opportunity: "It was well received here, but after some thought we have decided not to accept it for publication. I hope you'll consider us again, and I wish you the best success in placing this story elsewhere."
Chuck Wendig is, once again, the man. Listen, people! Rejection does not mean "go out and self-publish." Rejection means work at your craft, revise that sucker, listen to feedback, submit again, and repeat. Write better.
And, hey, do us a favor? Don't clog the arteries of indie publishing by putting your rejected first drafts up on Amazon. Crap books are giving self-pub a bad name. Do the work. Find honest beta readers. Revise like you mean it. Hire an editor, and listen to what she or he says. Pay for a decent cover. Make sure it's good before you throw it in the faces of readers. Otherwise, you're peeing in everybody's pool. Terrible Minds - The Indie Writer Rejection Meme Is it just that I've been too busy to put more than 10 minutes at a time into my most recent story, or is it actually viciously resisting being written? Getting the last 2,000 words down is like trying to drag a cat backwards out of a blackberry patch.
So, it's happened to all of us: You buy a book by someone you know through a social network, or by a friend of a friend of someone your mother knows, and you start reading...
and it's really not very good. Not horrible, not gouge-your-eyes-out-with-your-bookmark bad, but just not very good. You give it another chapter, and then you put it down. My question is: How do you avoid being that author? How do you know if your precious, sweat-and-tear stained work isn't really ready for prime time yet? "What people see is what they expect to get."
She is absolutely right. Just as I will drop some money on professional editing, I will also drop some for eye-catching cover work. (And these are very reasonable fees!) www.designedbystarla.com |
Torah Cottrill
I read. I write. And sometimes I talk about it. 
(Issue #20 - free to read)
(Issue #14 - free to read)
(Issue #25 - free to read)
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