When it's time to recycle your writing

Tomorrow is the release day of PRETTY CROOKED by the awesome Elisa Ludwig. I interviewed her on my blog last September; since then, she's added a book trailer you'll want to check out here.

You'll notice I'm a tad late in posting my usual Monday info. I was at a state championship competitive  hockey tournament all weekend and had hoped to actually still be there today. Alas, my son's team was defeated in the crossovers (with help from some very questionable refing) so we came home at midnight last night with our heads hung low. This is our eleventh year of being a hockey family; my son has played since he was four. Needless to say, every year games get more tense, the stakes get a bit higher as the ever elusive goal of a hockey scholarship nears.

Last year's championship game - the Boy is #8

I say elusive because there are only 900 Division 1 hockey scholarships in the nation. 900. Sounds like a lot until you consider there are tens of thousands of kids just like my son who can play pretty well. One of those Division 1 schools is the University of Alaska-Fairbanks. Number of scholarships they've offered to their home-state kids for hockey? Not many. Competition is fierce, folks, and there's always somebody willing to go play in the juniors or throw money at expensive camps Outside or that simply has more talent.

Chances are, the Boy won't make the cut.

You may be asking how this all relates to writing...although I'm guessing the numbers above are creating the metaphor in your mind. In case it's not, here's how: there are only so many publishing houses out there. And hundreds of thousands of writers.  Just looking at the numbers can throw you into despair.

But wait. We're all multi-talented writers, right? Like the Boy - who has a talent for test-taking and, when he isn't being a bonehead, is a pretty smart cookie - we can look at the market for weaknesses niches that don't have as much competition.

If  the paranormal romance genre is awfully crowded and agents are rejecting your vampire/ghost/werewolf/talking-spider story right and left, what other genre can you try? Maybe your MS is centered around a mystery or has elements of a thriller. Could you strengthen the mystery/thriller aspects of the plot and change the characters around a bit?

Or you have a fantasy with an MC who discovers she's half-fey and has powers to rule/change/destroy the world. Unfortunately, it turns out that about half the other querying writers out there have the same premise. Your plot is so centered around this idea, you're totally bummed. But your MC is this mind-blowing, a** kicking heroine you can't bear to consign to the drawer. How about using elements of her character in another plot?

Know this: nothing you've written so far is wasted. It may never be published but it ISN'T a waste. Step back from your creation and look at it like it's a house you want to sell. You've got to make it marketable, right? So try removing your emotions  - because the MS isn't your baby, it's your business -  and view it with fresh eyes.

The Boy probably won't get a Division 1 hockey scholarship. But chances are pretty good that his brains will attract what his brawn will not. An academic scholarship at a Division II school is a real possibility. Sure, it's not as prestigious as Div I but an education is an education. That's our ultimate goal.

What's your ultimate goal? And are you committed enough to reaching it to get creative with your approach?

Reality Check

The title of this post should more acurately be called: when you can't figure out why you're not getting any (or more) requests.  But that's a bit bulky for a title.

Although I've been blogging only since last summer, I've noticed there isn't a bloghop that goes by without evidence of the awesome writerly community online. Comments are filled with encouragement and statements of how talented we all are. Taken from a nurturing standpoint, this is wonderful.
 
Taken from a business/reality standpoint, it's awful. And here's why.

Say you're an emerging writer who has a great idea for a first book. You've stayed up late writing so fast, your fingers smoke. You follow blogs that cover technique, you track your favorite authors. You've started a blog and are dipping into the Twitter waters. You critique, comment, contest and campaign your little heart out. You've even sent your MS off to a few betas who all respond with hearty applause, so you gird your loins and start writing a query. A few months - and hopefully revisions - later and off it flies to agent inboxes.

And...nada. You might get a request or two out of every fifty queries sent but after that? Crickets. Or rejections. And those few requests end up months later in form rejections.

Because, despite what all your readers have said (and they're great people, they want you to succeed) you're not ready. Your idea has too much competition, your MS rambles like an out-of-control freight train and you are the rule, not the exception. It's the equivalent of going in public with your fly down and nobody telling you.  Or having something green in your teeth and everybody smiling vaguely while avoiding looking directly at you. Or....well, you get the picture. Your blogging buddies, your betas, your family, aren't telling you the truth - either because they can't see it or they don't know.

You realize this in stages as the months go by. First denial, then anger, then tears - all the stages of grief encompass you and you wonder in despair if you just DON'T HAVE WHAT IT TAKES. *sob*

Here's the thing: you don't. Not yet. Not with this MS. Not with this economy/trends in the market/writing abilities you have right now.  I underlined that for emphasis because it's everything. 

This is the point when many emerging writers go for self-publishing. And I'm not knocking this. There are success stories every few months of self-pubbers who go on to land a publishing contract (and thousands more who sell ten copies.) If that's your choice, go for it. You'll learn a lot.

For those of you whose dream it is to go the traditional route, know this: Just because your current MS has more rejections than Jack Black at a super model convention doesn't mean your next story is doomed.

All these rejections are telling you now is to try harder. READ. Write something else, maybe a short story or a nonfiction article. Hone your craft by going shorter, learning how to trim, focus, target, plot. READ. Find a beta who isn't scared of hurting your feelings and will tell you what's wrong. READ. Grow a thick skin so you don't get offended, so you can actually learn from those comments.  Be suspicious of kind comments because, let's face it, you're not Shakespeare.  (oh..and READ. Set a goal for at least a book a week. I won't tell you how many I read bc it is kind of embarrassing in a holy-cow-she-has-no-life way.)

You will get better with relentless practice. In the meantime, the market might shift so your next MS is now the trend.

Realize this. Own it. Move on. There's a reason most professional writers look more like the Velveteen Rabbit than Barbie. It's just part of being real.