Archive for the ‘Getting published’ Category
It’s a tough call
October 9th, 2009 | 
Author: Once you find yourself in a committed relationship, you realize that falling in love is the easy past. You meet, connect, and are ecstatic over finding each other. You spend countless hours enjoying one another’s company. Trust develops and you begin to realize that you want this person to remain as a part of your life. Then the tough part comes - you have to introduce him to your friends and family.
Well, it isn’t necessarily all that difficult, but there is that moment when you wonder if your loved ones will react positively to meeting your significant other. Will they see what you see? Will they recognize the wonderful attributes that you do? There’s a bit of anxiety involved as you wait for their reactions.
In some ways, getting ready to submit your writing is very much the same thing. For months and even years, it has been only the two of you. You grow to know each other intimately. Like any other labor of love, you invest your emotions and energy and develop a committed relationship. Then, when you’re ready, you have to introduce your partner to the rest of the world.
The process triggers similar anxieties. Will people like it? Will they recognize its merits? Will they validate the time and effort that you’ve put into it?
More importantly, however, what will you do if they don’t? Will you cut and run or will you stand by it, and in doing so, authenticate your own methods of perception?
It’s a tough call.
Posted in Getting published, writing | 
Tags: manuscript submissions, submission process, submitting manuscript, writing | 
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Some things just stick with you
Back when I was in college, I attended a talk at a local Barnes and Noble by a fairly well known author. The topic was “Tips for getting published.” There were maybe twenty of us there, all budding writers, eager to absorb any professional advice that we could get. We sat around in a circle, notebooks open, ready to hear his advice.
He wasn’t a particularly friendly man. His demeanor was rather matter-of-fact as he stood in front of the podium that the store had provided for him. His gaze indicated that he was not going to welcome eye contact but preferred to speak his piece uninterrupted.
Never having met a well known author before, I had no preconceived notions about how one should behave. I, like most of the people there, simply wanted to hear what he had to say.
He began by stating that he was going to tell us the story of how he became a successful, published author. We awaited anxiously.
His story went something like this:
He had never wanted to be an author, never even thought about writing – in fact, he was well established in a completely different field. (I can’t quite remember which field he said he was involved in, but I believe it might have been financial planning.) Read the rest of this entry »