Dina here. (Warning: Ah, screw it. If you're reading this post, you already know this blog is NSFW.)
I've been reading the most…well, let's just say
"interesting"…blog posts lately, and they all pretty much boil down
to one particular sentiment:
"WAAAAAAA! NOBUDDY WUVS ME!"
I'm going to say this once, so listen very carefully:
GROW. THE FUCK. UP.
Let's break this down, shall we? We'll go with Writer S and
Writer T, because Writers X and Y are such prima donnas and I've given them
enough attention on this blog. (Also, those may be their actual initials, which
totally serve my purpose without actually giving them any of the attention they
so desperately want. Onward!)
Writer S has had enough. Writer S is tired of being rejected
over and over. They've been rejected so many times by so many people that it's
just depressing. Literally. Writer S was so butt-hurt about their repeated
rejections that they fell into a soul-deep crushing lethargy about their
writing and announced a ragequit hiatus so they could visit their physician
(who said the same thing I would have, which was "stop whining, up your
fucking dose and cope" – though I'm pretty sure the doc said it in a nicer
way than I would have) and search their innermost self for the Reason They Want
To Write.
When they came back a week or so later, they made the
announcement that they really want to write because they want someone outside
their friends and family to read their work.
I'll pause here so you can reread that and let it sink in.
I discussed this issue with a friend of mine. He said, and I
quote (with permission as I asked first if I may quote him), "It's more
important for [them] to feel as if [they are] heard than to be paid for
it."
All right. Fair enough. I can totally understand the need to
feel like your work isn't in vain, and "Is Anybody Out There?" syndrome.
I get it. Been there, done that, and personally, I don't think that's a valid
reason to want to write/be published.
I'm sure wanting someone to read your work is a valid reason
to Writer S, but I'm going to need a little more than "I just want to be
heard" if you want to cross the line from "hobbyist" to
"professional."
It's one thing to love your craft. It's another to bitch
because the people outside your friends and family that you've given your work
to all say the same thing.
I'll pause again to let that sink in.
If you're constantly getting rejections (which, by the way,
is part of the game) from industry professionals that say the same thing, the
problem isn't them.
The problem is you.
Which brings me to Writer T.
Writer T thinks that the purpose of a query letter is to
prove that you can jump through hoops and has nothing to do with the book.
Again, I'll pause to let that sink in.
Note: If your query letter has nothing to do with the book,
you're DOING IT WRONG. Just sayin'.
Writer T has (apparently, according to them) submitted to various
people and places over 500 times, only to be rejected over 500 times and have
their work read only three times out of that 500.
Note: If you've been rejected over TEN times with the same
project using the same query letter and get the same standard "thank you
but no" rejection letter, you might want to revamp one or all of the
following:
a) the letter itself – it may not be effectively communicating your
premise
b) the project - it may not be
suitable for the house/agent you're querying
c) your approach – there are reasons for submission guidelines. Follow them.
Writer T also thinks that editors/agents/publishing houses
are only interested in your "marketing plan."
Now, I don't know which of the above Writer T is querying,
but not one of the above has ever asked me or anyone I know for a
"marketing plan" before a query. I honestly have no clue whom Writer
T is supposedly querying/submitting to, but whomever they may be, I seriously
doubt they're legitimate publishing professionals.
Reading Writer
T's…eloquent screed on the horrific state (and apparently inevitable collapse
and death) of the "traditional publishing" (hint: the term is
"commercial publishing") industry, I can't help but wonder if they did
any research whatsoever on how to actually publish. There are so many obvious
errors in both fact and judgment. [Example – an erroneous statement that a
popular YA series was rejected "dozens of times" before the manuscript was ever read.
Fact: Popular YA series was rejected thirteen times. Thirteen rejections =/=
"dozens." And I'm willing to bet that Popular YA Author was asked for
their full or partial manuscript at least five of those times, because that's
the process.] There are also several paragraphs of complete and utter ignorance
of how the legitimate commercial publishing industry works.
Both Writer S and Writer T have the same complaint.
"The nature of the industry." It's "the industry" keeping
them down/out/marginalized. It's "the industry" squelching their genius.
It's "the industry" overlooking their brilliance and making them take
matters into their own hands and self-publish, either for free on their own
blogs or on a large internet for-pay publishing site.
Uh, no, it isn't. It's not the industry, it's the writers themselves. You
don't get to blame other people because you can't deal with rejection.
Writing is hard. Writing professionally is even harder. Just
like any other job (because professional writing is a job, just like being a
secretary, doctor, lawyer, accountant, fry cook or game warden), there are
rules of conduct, structure, balance, hierarchy and a standard of quality that
one must meet in order to be considered for the job.
If you don't meet those standards, you're not going to get
the job. Period.
I'll tell you right now that the vast majority of rejections are not personal. They simply aren't. I can give you link after link to
professional industry blogs that illustrate this very fact. Rejections aren't
personal. They're business and you didn't pass muster. That simple. (Of course,
if you make a constant ass out of yourself, threaten, harass, stalk, or libel
the people you're attempting to involve yourself with, there might be a bit of
"personal" in your rejection, but that's on you, not on them.)
The solution to being consistently rejected is not to
present yourself to someone else who tells you the same thing over and over
again. The solution is to go back, spit and polish, then present yourself.
If you're still not getting the job, go back, polish up
again and try again.
What both of the above examples have in common is their
desire for results. For legitimacy and recognition. Fine. Those are fine things
to want. But you have to work to earn them, and usually for a hell of a lot
longer than either of the above have been at it. The average first novel takes
ten years to get out. The majority of people publishing now have been at
writing for a long, long time. (I'm not talking here about sensational examples
of people found on fan-fiction sites and given publishing contracts in order to
make the house a buck. Those are exceptions, not the rule, and generally done
by one house in particular whose practices I find unpleasant.) They've all been
rejected and they've all had their share of ups and downs.
Also, everyone has problems.
Everyone.
You are not the only one with medical issues, mental health
issues, child care issues, money issues, emotional issues, citizenship issues,
physical issues, marital issues, personal issues, job issues, social issues, or any other issues.
EVERYONE HAS ISSUES. Yours are not justification for your
whiny-assed bullshit. No one gives a crap about your issues anyway! If you
write as a way to deal with your issues, stick to writing emo poetry in your
journal and don't bother trying to inflict it on the rest of the world, then
get pissed when no one besides your mom thinks it's genius.
If you write for any of the following reasons, you're doing it wrong:
1) For the money. (HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!)
2) For the fame. (BWAH-HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!)
3) To be able to say "I'm a writer" when people ask what you do.
(People either ask you to help them/refer them to your agent/want you to write
"this great idea I have but I can't write," or what your "real
job" is, and your mother will never accept that your writing IS a "real
job.")
4) Because you have shit to say and want a captive audience. (This is what
blogs are for.)
5) Because you're a creative soul and writing is art. (Fuck you. Go to
your room and write emo poetry in your journal.)
You want to play with the big kids, you need to grow the
fuck up first. Stop whining that you have sand in your panties and get your crying
ass out of the fucking sandbox.
You see, I signed up for it at the last minute in order to try to finish up a draft I was working on and revise it and get it to beta prior to NaNoWriMo. Mission accomplished! Woot! Thing is, I was left with about five days between sending it off and NaNo starting.
