OddGodHMK

Hey folks,

So either on Friday, Saturday or Monday, I'm going to be sending off packages to 24 agencies (the stack of paperwork is currently HUGE - it's over 500 pages thus far and I still have a few hundred pages to go to have got everything for every agency).

Problem is, my confidence has flat-out failed me. I'm guessing it's because this is the part where it goes out and I start getting all those rejections back (already had 2, from agencies that accept e-mail submissions). But it's driving me absolutely nuts: I think about the fact I'm sending this off and then wondering whether it's going to be a waste of time, whether everyone is going to say no and that'll be it.

So I need some help. How can I go about restoring a bit of my confidence? I'm seriously concerned I'll end up mentally talking myself out of sending it off. And yet, at the same time, I need to get this out there and out of my hair and then get to work on the next thing and try to put it all out of my mind.

Argh.

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Sekaya

Just try and put it from your mind. You finished it. You've done it. Give yourself a pat on the back, and send it out. Then realise its out of your hands and, whatever happens, you did it. So many people don't ever get the guts to do that.

and then go out, grab a drink with some friends. Hold a party. Have fun. And then say, "Hey, I have an idea" and sit down and type it out. Forget that you even sent it. When you start getting responses, distance yourself, shrug off the rejections, go "Gee, that's nice. Well, on to write" and leave it behind.

I'm looking forward to eventually being in your place. Try not to sweat it and enjoy it as a learning, life experience.

good luck with it!

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jacobworld

maybe just go ahd relax from writing . Holidays ad just wait and drink .
Look for inspiration for another

Truth-Teller

Are you writing to get published? Or are you writing for your stories--your characters--and yourself?

If you write for the former, you will never get better, and your chances of improving the craft is none.

Mike C

Stupid boy, missed the point completely. As usual.

I think we can assume his intention is to get published, don't you?

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seigfried007

While I think it's safe to say that OddGod wants to be published (even to simultaneous submissions!) I think that perhaps Truth-Teller wanted to draw the focus away from "Oh, Please God, gemme published!" and more to the falling in love aspect of writing and to honing one's craft.

I intend to be published at the award-winning, professional level someday, but my focus isn't on that when I write--it's on the people and images and events in my head that I know will knock the reader's socks off. Writing those scenes and that dream of more professional ambitions keep me writing, keep me honing my craft--even when I'm not working on long fiction (why I started short stories in the first place--wanted to get better at editing, plotting, etc). Because I need to knock your socks off with this story.

Once something like that grabs you, there's no going back. It will wriggle its way into the core of your mind like a festering thorn and stay there until you write it out.

Find a story like that, OddGod. Find one that makes your skin prickle all over, that gives you chills, that you can't shake. Find something worth writing and you'll forget about whether or not you can do something because you will need to. Fall in love with writing something you can't help and let it possess you.

And kill the Internal Editor.

Plus, I know how it's possible to have the empty nest syndrome after sending something off. The story's your baby and when people tell you that you've churned out an ugly baby, well, it kinda lowers your confidence.

Sometimes you just have to hope that someone out there will see your baby's charm instead of its dirty diapers. And Sometimes you have to hope for a blind person to pick it up. And sometimes--hate to say it--the kid just needs plastic surgery or a few years to grow up and for ugliness to come in fashion

No big deal. For right now, move on.

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strangedaze

My advice would be, once you've taken a week or two off and sent out all your manuscripts, start something new. It doesn't have to be a novel, just something. Short stories are often a good change of pace when you've been working with something 50k +. My psyche is such that I really believe that the thing I'm working on constitutes my best writing, so when rejections start coming in, I shrug them off. "Oh, that thing got rejected again, huh? Good thing I'm working on such and such thing and I'm a much better writer now than I was."

Which is why I'm always writing. Always getting rejections, always putting them in a little box, sometimes getting acceptances, but regardless, writing my thousand words a day, come hell or insipid crackwhore.

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Mike C

To agents; therefore he has a novel to sell, not shorts.

SD gives the best advice. Once your submissions are out there, don't sit on your hands getting stressed about rejections. Write something else.

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Non Serviam

Read a Nike ad, mate.

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mwd

If you want to get published, you're going to have to put yourself out there. There's no way to avoid rejection if you actually want success. And it's not the end of the world. Believe it or not, you'll get some rejections, but you'll still be alive. You might get published. You might not. But if you send this stuff out, at least you'll know you gave it your all.

I agree completely with SD/Mike/Non. Don't obsess over this. Start something new once the submissions are out. Keep working and improving.

SilkFX

Perfect timing! The following book has been making me feel a LOT better lately:

The Resilient Writer: Tales of Rejection and Triumph by 23 Top Authors

Amazon.com: The Resilient Writer: Tales of Rejection and Triumph by 23 Top Authors: Catherine Wald: Books

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A_New_Dawn

I salute you and say....GOOD LUCK!!!!

Jake the snake

i have to agree with some people here the best way is to find a fan of yours and listen to him talking that it will be ok

Truth-Teller

If you write trying to get published in the back of your mind, your writing will turn to shit. I know.

You will never improve; you'll be rejected over and over again. You write to please yourself, not others. The only way to get better is learning how to let go. Let go of the stories you send out. If you constantly think about them, how will you write the next? So what if your story is a little medicore, it's the best shot you gave it. You know now that this next one--this next story--will be better than before. Strive for the best, push the envelope, and don't worry others think of it, because the learning process is a slow process. Learn from your mistakes. Write better (for yourself). You have infinite ways to tell a story. It's not the end of the world.

Listen to Seigfried's and Strangedaze's advice, when you get your rejection letter.

Malone

Amphetamines, whiskey, and a hooker.

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