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Professional virgins or how not to succeed in a writing career
In preparation for their upcoming annual conference, yesterday I went to the romance writer's bi-annual writing retreat, where ![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
jennifer_dunne and I gave our patented "How to pitch to an agent/editor" presentation, with Jennifer taking the role of hopeful author and I was the jet-lagged editor/agent-in-search-of-bar.
A couple folks who were just back from RWA National shared their stories of how their agent/editor appointments went, and this is the point where heartburn set in. One writer had multiple requests to see her manuscript, but wasn't sure if she was going to send it out. She'd heard a number of people saying that the market for that genre was weak, and in her mind this was reason enough not to bother trying. Plus one of the editors she spoke to is from Harlequin UK so she'd have the expense of mailing the manuscript to England. I bit my tongue rather than point out that she'd just dropped at least a thousand dollars to go to National, and now she's quibbling over a few bucks in postage.
Another writer had an agent request to see her work, but the agent wasn't wildly enthusiastic. She'd cut the writer's pitch short, not letting her finish her spiel before asking to see it. I would have taken this as a positive sign but this writer has decided if the agent wasn't in love with the verbal pitch then there's no chance she'll like the manuscript, so why bother?
In both cases the writers said they were considering submitting their manuscripts, eventually, but in reality they were just trolling for more excuses to put it off. I've no doubt that if I check in with these folks at the annual Christmas party I'll learn that both of them have allowed these opportunities to slip through their fingers.
Shame of the matter is that at least one of these women is a very talented writer. But after encouraging her for several years to start submitting her work, I've given up. It looks like she'll remain firmly on the professional virgin side, every now and then sending out a query or meeting with an agent, but never actually taking the emotional risk of incurring one rejection after another until she succeeds.
I firmly believe that the difference between myself and these women isn't a matter of skill so much as it is that I endured two years of rejections, and have the thick stack of rejection letters to prove it. Being a writer is as much about picking yourself up off the mat and trying again as it is about the ability to craft wonderful stories.
And if you happen to stumble across this and recognize yourself, please be angry. Go ahead and prove me wrong by sending your manuscript out. Whatever happens next, whether it's a rejection letter or an acceptance, I promise to be the first to hand you chocolates and buy you a drink.
jennifer_dunne and I gave our patented "How to pitch to an agent/editor" presentation, with Jennifer taking the role of hopeful author and I was the jet-lagged editor/agent-in-search-of-bar. A couple folks who were just back from RWA National shared their stories of how their agent/editor appointments went, and this is the point where heartburn set in. One writer had multiple requests to see her manuscript, but wasn't sure if she was going to send it out. She'd heard a number of people saying that the market for that genre was weak, and in her mind this was reason enough not to bother trying. Plus one of the editors she spoke to is from Harlequin UK so she'd have the expense of mailing the manuscript to England. I bit my tongue rather than point out that she'd just dropped at least a thousand dollars to go to National, and now she's quibbling over a few bucks in postage.
Another writer had an agent request to see her work, but the agent wasn't wildly enthusiastic. She'd cut the writer's pitch short, not letting her finish her spiel before asking to see it. I would have taken this as a positive sign but this writer has decided if the agent wasn't in love with the verbal pitch then there's no chance she'll like the manuscript, so why bother?
In both cases the writers said they were considering submitting their manuscripts, eventually, but in reality they were just trolling for more excuses to put it off. I've no doubt that if I check in with these folks at the annual Christmas party I'll learn that both of them have allowed these opportunities to slip through their fingers.
Shame of the matter is that at least one of these women is a very talented writer. But after encouraging her for several years to start submitting her work, I've given up. It looks like she'll remain firmly on the professional virgin side, every now and then sending out a query or meeting with an agent, but never actually taking the emotional risk of incurring one rejection after another until she succeeds.
I firmly believe that the difference between myself and these women isn't a matter of skill so much as it is that I endured two years of rejections, and have the thick stack of rejection letters to prove it. Being a writer is as much about picking yourself up off the mat and trying again as it is about the ability to craft wonderful stories.
And if you happen to stumble across this and recognize yourself, please be angry. Go ahead and prove me wrong by sending your manuscript out. Whatever happens next, whether it's a rejection letter or an acceptance, I promise to be the first to hand you chocolates and buy you a drink.
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Do you want to "Be a Writer" or do you want to write?
If your goal is to "Be a Writer", it is more important for you to be seen doing writerly things, to go to conferences, to hang out in coffee shops with a pile of scattered pages or the latest, shiniest laptop, while you mutter suitably writerly things under your breath.
If your goal is to write, you might also never submit your work. But at least you'll write and finish it, so your heirs can get rich off of your efforts. :-)
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