When Bad Times Arrive For Writers

Writers might get a blue ribbon for getting discouraged far more than some other people in this world. We ride a roller coaster with the ups and downs we traverse on our writing journey. 

We work hard on our stories, essays, article, and poems. That old cliche--blood, sweat, and tears--is not out of line when describing the writing life. Submit and wait. Submit and wait. Submit and wait some more. Finally, news comes, but it might not be what we were hoping for. 

It's then that today's poster would be quite appropriate. I have plenty of friends who would hug me, quite a good many who might give me chocolate, but I've yet to meet one that will soothe my ruffled feathers with a gift of 6 million dollars. If any of you have a friend who would do that, please do tell us about it in the comments section. 

Writers run the full course of good times and bad. What we need to do is push the bad times aside and dwell on the good. We've all got some good things to make us feel better when rejections flow back to us. 

We get down when a writing project goes from bad to worse. Nothing we do seems to make it work. It's best to walk away for a while. Let it simmer, let your mind renew itself.

What we need to do when a rejection arrives is to say something like OK, this stinks. But I was invited to speak at a Library Luncheon last week. People treated me like a celebrity. In other words, don't let the frustrating moments take over. Always keep positive things at the top. It takes a bit of practice, but you can do it. Like yesterday's poster said Yes you can!

Meanwhile, enjoy the hug, savor the chocolate and keep an eye out for that 6 million dollars.

A Writer Who Practiced Patience and Persistence

A friend recommended that I read a WWII themed novel called The Plum Tree by Ellen Marie Wiseman. The story is about a German family from a small village during the war and immediately after. Heartbreaking but a well-written story which allows a view of what it was like on 'the other side' since we so often read stories of that period that are from the Allied view. I am not going to review the book but you can read the summary and reviews at Amazon should you be interested.

Instead of a review of the book, I want to concentrate on the author and her publication journey, which I read about in a conversation with the author at the conclusion of the novel. I found it fascinating.

Ellen Marie Wiseman is the daughter of a woman who grew up in Germany during WWII. She married an American and lived in the USA. She told story upon story of what life was like during her childhood to her own three children. Ellen, the oldest, was inspired to write a WWII novel told from the viewpoint of a German family after she learned in high school about the Holocaust. Her dreamworld her mother had instilled with her stories caused her to have mixed emotions. She continued to question her mother about this era of life in Germany. Years went by and she felt the need to write the novel about an average German family.

Much of what she wrote is true--mostly the everyday living of the family, the hardships they endured during those years, the Allied bombings and Dachau. The characters are fictional but she based some on the grandparents she visited in Germany with her mother.  

The author attended a small rural school that had no creative writing classes. Besides that, she did not go to college. She worked on her writing on her own for years, then turned to the internet  where she located William Kowalski, an author who became her '...editor, teacher, mentor and friend.' She says his faith in her pushed her to believe in herself.

Over the years, Ellen Wiseman received 72 rejections from agents. Ask yourself right now--Would I have persevered in sending queries of that number to agents? In 2008, she and her husband had to file bankruptcy in a family business. They each had to search for work after 26 years of managing their own business. The time was a difficult one but Wiseman persisted in following her dream about getting her book published. When told the story was too long, she spent months cutting and revising while still fighting financial battles. She began querying again.

In January 2011, she came close to giving up. After all, 72 rejections from agents were not the stuff of encouragement. Trying one more time, she secured an agent who sold her novel in three weeks!

She has had two more novels published and another coming this year. I have written about my two keywords for writers--Patience and Persistence. This author is a perfect example of a writer who practiced both and found success because of it. Ms. Wiseman writing journey should also be encouraging to writers who have not received a degree in creative writing, those who strike out on their own, learning as they travel down their writing path.

When you feel like you are ready to give up in your own journey, think of this woman. I'd like to put her on a pedestal ten feet high as she is definitely someone I would look up to. I enjoyed the book but reading about Ellen Wiseman's writing journey was the icing on the cake.

Have You Ever Suffered The Slash?

Ever feel like this? A writer friend recently wrote a facebook post that created a good discussion with other writers.

She had made it to the short list on a forthcoming Chicken Soup for the Soul book. When the letter and permission release form are sent to those writers who have made it to the 'finals,' there is one paragraph that warns that this does not mean your story is definitely in. A few more stories will be cut before the final number are selected.

We all read it, we know it's possible but we believe our story will make it. My friend learned a couple of days ago that her story was one of the few that had been cut at the end of the selection process. Hurts. Oh, how it hurts! To top it off, she was sick with a very bad cold. The news was certainly not a good dose of medicine for her physical health or emotional either. She reached out to her fellow writers.

To make matters worse, this is the sixth time that she's been in this situation. Six stories that almost made it but then suffered the slash. Six times that she had to absorb the sad news. Six times she had to give herself a pep talk. Six times she had to remind herself of the many stories that did make it into a Chicken Soup book. Six times she's had to move on.

She must have felt like the jockey who ran just behind the horses that won the prize money. Or the long distance runner who comes in just after the first place winner. So close and yet...

If you're a writer, you've had to deal with coming in second or total rejection. We all have because it's a part of the writing game. The trick is to bounce back after you've given yourself a short time (note that I said 'short') to feel sorry for yourself. You deserve that but you can't let yourself wallow in pity. I don't think my friend will do that. She's a pro and knows she has to start writing and send in a story for a new Chicken Soup book. And I'm sure she will. She'll most likely come up with more winners than losers, too.

Go ahead, organize a pity party for one, attend for one full day, then start writing again. Go ahead, post your feelings about the rejection for other writers on fb or other writing groups you belong to. You deserve the cyber hugs they'll give you. They understand. Most have been there at one time or another. But then start writing again. It's the best cure for suffering the slash.