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Writers are a sensitive bunch & because I have always said, DM me & I'll help if I possibly can, or at least listen & send a virtual hug, over the last year or so, I've had a lot of dms with questions or people needing to talk something over.
I thought I'd offer up a top 5 where I thought I could have a go: feel free to disagree.
Q1. How do you keep going when discouraged or rejected?
A: Stay stubborn, always be working on something and try writing in a new genre to bring you back to life. Keep reading.
Q1. How do you keep going when discouraged or rejected?
A: Stay stubborn, always be working on something and try writing in a new genre to bring you back to life. Keep reading.
Q2. I am a woman over 40 and I've read that people won't want to publish me. What do you think I should do? Don't they only want to publish 25 year old debuts?
A. Incendiary answer? It's part of the picture, but beyond that, I think it's bollocks. Unless I am horribly wrong...
A. Incendiary answer? It's part of the picture, but beyond that, I think it's bollocks. Unless I am horribly wrong...
...people want to publish books that they think are fuck-off brilliant. So write something fuck-off brilliant. If you meet resistance, push back. BUT MAYBE CONSIDER THIS: do some of the commentators have a vested interest in telling you this? ALWAYS look at more than 1 source
Q3. How do you find time to write when you have work and/or a family or multiple commitments?
A. You don't beat yourself up or get confined by the notion that you MUST write every day or you are not a writer. Write when you can, as you can but hear ye, hear ye: the writing...
A. You don't beat yourself up or get confined by the notion that you MUST write every day or you are not a writer. Write when you can, as you can but hear ye, hear ye: the writing...
...the work is also pondering, thinking, imaginative freewheeling and reading. Factor that in and hopefully you will give yourself a boost and feel a bit comforted. Also, it won't always work. Come back to your ms & have faith in the project and in yourself.
Q4. I haven't had replies from people about my submission (query) and I feel really dejected.
A. Chase then, frankly, move on. There are many amazing folk out there and lots of them reply. But be aware that, once you are published, there is still plenty of waiting. WELL NOW...
A. Chase then, frankly, move on. There are many amazing folk out there and lots of them reply. But be aware that, once you are published, there is still plenty of waiting. WELL NOW...
...I am very poor at patience but have had to learn. This is also why it's important to be working on something. However, an addendum: there is a world between a bit of wait & being left dangling. For eg, asking for full ms & not replying. Likewise, when you are published...
...you need to communicate clearly; not be flightly or pushy, but also, baby: you are not the last turkey in the shop - which brings me to number 5.
Q5. I feel really crushed by feedback on a submission and/or the way I have been treated. Any thoughts?
A. Lift your sights...
Q5. I feel really crushed by feedback on a submission and/or the way I have been treated. Any thoughts?
A. Lift your sights...
...it is a tough business and you have to learn to respond to critical points which may, communicated at speed by a busy person, appear unkind when in fact the giver is being frank and business-like, publishing being both art and commerce. HOWEVER if, further down the line...
...you feel crushed or even the crusher is your publisher or someone you are working with, PLEASE don't bear this alone: I know it happens. Find a mentor - ask on twitter for a start: someone to chat to; share the burden; contact the Society of Authors and know you aren't alone.
