publishing

Surviving Nearly There

Friday, May 16

68195386_0bdb7b10f6_z(I’m mirroring last Friday’s post from Writer Unboxed over here because WU has been intermittently down since then. Huge apologies for those of you who’ve been trying to find it!)

One of the hardest stages of your writing journey—one that will take the most dedication, commitment, and self exploration—is the ‘nearly there’ stage. This is the stage where your critique partners love your work, you’re getting personalized rejections from agents or editors and highly complimentary reports from your beta readers, and yet . . . no sale or offer has materialized.

Remember those old cartoons, the ones where the character is in the desert, hot sun beating down on him, parched throat, covered in dust, nearly perishing of thirst as he slowly drags himself to the enticing oasis that is just within his reach—only to have it disappear just as he reaches it because it’s a frickin’ mirage?

That’s what the ‘nearly there’ stage feels like. Especially if you’ve been stuck in it more than a couple of years.

But the nearly there stage is a vital, absolutely critical part of our writerly development. In fact I know many agents and editors who would argue that this is exactly the stage that is missing from so many aspiring authors’ journeys and that lack has held them back. So I thought I’d share some thoughts on how to not only survive, but hopefully thrive during this stage. [click to continue…]