Monday, April 13, 2009

Never Give Up!

Failure is not such a bad thing, but giving up is.

I've been downhearted, lately. With the recession and the publishing companies being more selective, I'm thinking I don't have a chance. I'm thinking, why should I continue to submit.

I visit how to sights, author's sights, wanna be author's sights.
I strive to learn and get better at my craft.
I gather tips and ideas. I write and rewrite. I enter contests. I send out manuscripts. . . and I get rejections.
I enter stories to critiques in order to get someone's opinion on my writing. . . to find out if my words have a chance out there in the publishing world. But I need to realize that this is only one person's idea or opinion of my work. I need to realize, also, that when I send to a publisher it is only their opinion of my work. I need to continue to search for the right publisher.

I'm sure many of you do the same thing. We need to not get discouraged and give up. If we give up, we will be more of a failure than if we tried and failed, and then picked ourselves up and tried again.

Until we get published we need to continue to write for our own satisfaction and enjoyment. Someday we will receive a surprise phone call, e-mail or letter of acceptance.


"A professional writer is an amateur who didn't quit." Richard Bach


Let's journey together on the road to success.
Let's console each other over the bumps and rejoice with each other over the successes along the path to publication.

5 comments:

  1. I couldn't have said it better myself!

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  2. I'm discouraged too. Thanks for reminding me not to give up.

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  3. Janet, ever give up! I wrote my first book from bed. I was bedridden for nearly two months and in terrible pain. I wrote anyway and I believed it would happen someday. It took five years and 23 rejections (mostly lovely personal rejections) before it was accepted by a MAJOR Christian publisher! You won't give up because a true writer just can't. We can't help ourselves.
    Your day is coming, Janet!
    Keep learning, submitting, and praying (o;
    Sheryl

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  4. I MEANT to say, "DON'T" ever give up! Duh. I've been writing all day and my brain is mush.
    Sheryl

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  5. Janet, I attended the SCBWI conference in NYC this past January, and Jay Asher was our keynote speaker. His book, 13 Reasons Why is number three on the NY Bestseller list. He went through 4 agents and twelve years of rejections before he was published! I thought that was encouraging! Hang in there, it WILL happen.

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