Writing for the Love

Sometimes I think about the prize (novel publication, writing as a career) more than the journey. I wonder, when will I get there? It's a question for God, and I think I've heard him answer, Not yet. Unless that's just the voice in my head. Time will tell. Sometimes I think about the journey. Writing, rewriting. Editing, re-editing. Multiply that by 100. Then fashion a query, synopsis, and search for the appropriate agent/publisher for the book(s) and/or story(ies). Receive a rejection. Find the next market. Another rejection. Next market. PUSH (see previous post). I can get disillusioned by the process, but then I remember...I am writing. I love this. I love writing. I'm not getting paid for it at the moment, but I really do love the process. Because writing is the process. Taking a story that started with a blank page and crafting it to the best it can be feeds my soul. I'm pretty sure God designed me to love creating stories, though that doesn't mean the p...

So far, I have five emails with form letter rejections on Sprinter , and one personalized email explaining why it was rejected. At this point, I anticipate the eight I’m waiting on will be rejections, and I’m okay with that. The obvious lesson is the process. I’m a far cry from Edison’s thousands of attempts to create the incandescent light bulb (he succeeded on his 1,000th or 10,000th attempt depending on the source), or the best-selling authors with hundreds of rejections before their first publication. I’m learning from my mistakes. Though I’m receiving no specifics (except one which did help), I’m receiving excellent and specific feedback from my critique group. Any writer who sends their query and opening manuscript chapters may feel like me. I’m making an electronic paper airplane that lands in the hands of someone I can’t see and don’t know personally, unless I met them at a conference. They may not like what they see for an infinite number of reasons. They might not be inte...