Today's poster made me think about all the writers who spend time and expend effort to make an essay as near perfect as possible. Or a short story the best they can make it. Or a special poem. Anyone who writes knows that it's hard work. We also know that the next step is to submit your work for publication. So, today' post is a little pep talk for all who have a hard time submitting.
Beginning writers are eager to sub with dreams of immediate publication spurring them on. What a bummer when the first editor rejects the piece. And it happens again and maybe again. So what occurs next? The writer starts fearing the submission process. Quite understandably. Who likes to be batted down time and again? No one!
What about that novel that you wrote over the space of several years? Is it difficult to start sending out queries to publishers and agents? Does it scare the daylights out of you? It certainly can. We are so apt to doubt our own abilities at times. I've been there and so have many of you. Our confidence level sinks pretty easily when we get multiple rejections.
I think that, to be a successful writer, we need to inflate our ego a bit. By that, I mean we need to believe enough in our work that we can do a little self-bragging to ourself. We have to convince ourself that our project is worthy of publication before we can move into that publishing journey. If we don't believe in ourself, who else is going to?
It's a lot easier to put that manuscript in a file and move on to other writing than it is to keep submitting it. But, will you regret it as the months and years slip by? Will you look back and ask yourself why in the world didn't you work as hard at submitting as you did when writing?
Think about that. If you can put in all that it takes to write a novel, or even a short story, why can't you work just as hard at trying to get it published? One answer might be that the hard work to produce the writing involved only you. The next step involves you and others, sometimes many others.
If you don't try to submit, how will you ever know if your hard work was worthwhile? If you don't take some chances with submitting, your work will have no chance of its own. You're in charge. A writer friend finished her book and started looking for a publisher or agent. We've all heard about authors who have subbed their novels over and over and over until they finally find someone interested in their work. Those people might be called hard-headed, driven, persistent or just plain stubborn. If that's what it takes, so be it.
You're the one in charge. It's you who can make the decision to get your work sent out. It's you who can submit. No one else can do it for you. If you were strong enough to finish a writing project, you're certainly strong enough to enter the submission process. Take the attitude that you'll do the best you can for as long as you can. If you do, you'll never have to regret not trying.
