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By: Allison Winn Scotch,
on 6/9/2009
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Question of the day: Although part of me gets inspired from reading all the "stories of success" of various authors, I can't help but feel totally defeated and discouraged at the thought of just how MANY people there are out there scrambling towards the same goal, where there's really only standing room for a few of us in the genre particularly, but in the market as a whole. How do you stay confident and inspired? Or more importanly, motivated?
Yes, well, this is the conundrum of being an aspiring writer. Not only that there are so many people out there trying to do the same thing, but also not knowing if a) you're good enough to rise to the top and b) whether or not being good enough really matters. Because let's face it: there are plenty of good authors out there whose work will never see the light of day. Not all of them, probably not even a ton of them, as I do believe that most truly talented writers get a break at some point, but yeah, not everyone, which is what makes this whole venture truly damn scary.
I've often said on this blog, and I can never repeat it often enough, that it takes a certain temperament to endure this career, and I stand by that. Years, YEARS can go by without success, and the rejection can diminish even the most confident among us. The only way that you will endure is to surround your ego and your confidence with steel armor, armor that might get occasionally nicked in the face of defeat but is basically impenetrable. I think you likely either have this disposition or you don't. But I also believe that you can at least learn to shrug it off, to get knocked down but stand up and face it all over again.
I was probably born overconfident. This has not always worked to my benefit (trust me - ending relationships was never my strong suit, as I always believed I could find a way to work things out), but in this career, yes, it has been. I simply never doubted that I could succeed. Which I know sounds ridiculous, but that is truly how my brain functions. I remember once, many years ago, when I was still finding my freelancing sea legs, my husband gently suggested that if I didn't start to get more work, I should perhaps start looking for a JOB job. I scoffed, literally scoffed at him, because I couldn't believe that he didn't KNOW, as I did, that I'd get 'er done. To paraphrase Captain Kirk: I don't believe in no-win situations.
And surely, when defeaning silences amassed from freelance editors or when my first agent and I agreed to part ways (UGH!), this way of thinking buffered me from what might have been an impulse to spin on my heels and bolt the other direction. Look, this is a tough, tough, tough business. Other than acting, I can't think of one that might be as difficult. So you either have to resolve that you're going to do your best and stick with it, or you get out. Because if you take rejection to heart and let it diminish you, your confidence will suffer, your writing will weaken, you'll present yourself as less of a package than you are.
And what should you do if you're not born with natural armor? I'd remind you to not take any of this personally. Ever. Rejection of your idea or your novel often has nothing to do with you. Agents, for example, are looking for whatever fits their specific criteria; magazine editors aren't dwelling on whether or not they think your query was poorly written. They have a product to push and sell, and they're looking at whether or not you add (or don't) to their business. This is a business. Period. Don't ever forget that. Another tip? While you're waiting to get published, keep writing. In my opinion, writing is the best way that you are going to get better. My first manuscript wasn't published and looking back, it didn't deserve to be. My second one was better, and resulted in my debut novel. My third was even better (IMO), and it's a New York Times Best Seller. There's no shame in putting something aside and recognizing that it was a learning experience, the end.
I hope this post doesn't come off as making me sound like I'm some narcissistic ego-maniac. :) I'm actually not! LOL. But, just to give you some perspective as to why I promise that I'm not, when I was a kid, whenever I had some sort of competitive activity, my dad used to sit me down and say, "What's your last name?" I'd roll my eyes about a dozen times, and finally, after much prodding, would say, "Winn." (Get the play on words?) Looking back on it now, I'm grateful that he did this. It wasn't that he turned me into a competitive freak, it's that he let me know that I always held that win inside of myself, that I was always capable of coming out on top. Even if your last name is Brown, Smith or Weinberg, the same theory can hold true for you...and I think it's a critical one for success as a writer.
Wow, long post. Anyone want to chime in on how you keep your confidence afloat?
By: Allison Winn Scotch,
on 5/28/2009
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Question of the day: Do you think about your readers as you write? Does that work for/against you? How do you NOT think about all this stuff?
Like it or not (and the jury is still out on this one), I do think about my readers as I write. Especially as I wrote book #3 (which I previous referred to as The Happiest Days of My Life, but it is getting a title change, so now I'm just referring to it as book #3). It was really difficult not to because Time of My Life was such a break-out book that I got A LOT of feedback - a lot good, some not so good - and I found it impossible to void out the feedback as I wrote.
Now listen. Here's the thing. I write for readers. Without them, I wouldn't have a career. So while it wasn't always a wonderful thing - me mulling over some of the harsher reviews and whatnot - I did find it important to consider what struck a chord and what didn't. For some reason, TOML was read by a lot of Christian readers, some of whom wrote me, my agent or just posted on their blogs, that they enjoyed the book but took issue with my liberal use of the F-bomb. I'll be honest in saying that, as a non-Christian NYC-er who is exposed to some pretty foul language, this criticism never even occurred to me. Never once. But, as I was writing book #3, did I at least give a second thought to every F-word I used this time? Sure. It was an easy enough fix that didn't compromise my writing or my characters. When I felt like the swear word was absolutely necessary, you bet your ass (ha!) I put it in. But when maybe I could find a better way to phrase it, I found a way to do that too.
I also learned a lesson in my first book and that was that readers really want to LIKE your protagonist. Not everyone liked Natalie from The Department, which is just fine, and I wouldn't change a word, but it is and was something that I'm now conscious of. Why would readers agree to give you their time for 300 pages when they don't even care if your character wins or loses? Ditto some of the reviews that said I was a good writer but didn't develop my characters deeply enough. Those really stuck with me, and I agonized with my characters in book #3, making sure (I hope) that they were three-dimensional, real, fleshed-out people, like friends you might know in real life.
So that was the good. The bad is also all of the above. :) And that while I have all of these different reviews and voices and criticism clanging in my head, it's easy to feel paralyzed. I know, because I was. Even though you KNOW that you can't please everyone and that certainly books are SUBJECTIVE, if you ruminate too much on these things, you simply can't write or you can't write well. For a while, I was so, so, so terrified of writing crappy character development, that I didn't write anything. I mean, God forbid someone put up another Amazon review stating my characters were flimsy! (That's sarcasm if you can't tell.) But yeah, for a while there, it DID feel like one of those Amazon reviews would be the end-all.
So...I guess what I'm trying to say here is that it's a mixed bag. But in the end, I'm glad that I'm weighing my reader feedback. They're the ones who buy books, and they're the ones, ultimately, whom I have to please. I pleased the majority of readers with Time of My Life, so with book #3, I aimed to do something similar...I hope I have. And even if I have, I'm sure they'll be dissenters. Oh well. They'll post their Amazon reviews, and hopefully, I'll make them happy with book #4. :)
What about you guys? Do you listen to what your readers have to say?
By: Allison Winn Scotch,
on 5/18/2009
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Question of the day: You said in one post you only work on your book about an hour a day -- did I get that right? Do you do it first thing in the morning or after your freelance work? And how often do you violate that rule?
Yep, indeed, I did say that, and it's only sort-of true. I set aside one hour a day to write because that's what I tell myself I HAVE to write...given how arduous I sometimes find fiction, I think if I told myself that I had to write four hours or whatnot every day, I simply become paralyzed with dread. But an hour? I mean, what's a measly hour? It's nothing. So I schedule my day around this hour because let's face it, anyone can do anything for an hour. (I often use this same psychology when it comes to running or working out...I can really endure a little pain for that short a period of time, and then it's over, and then I'm always glad that I did it, right?)
I almost always designate this hour in the morning, if only because my afternoons tend to get away from me with non-writing stuff - dropping in on my son's baseball class, walking the dog, running errands, and the only way that I can ENSURE that I get my hour in is to crank it out when the house is quiet.
Now. Does this mean that I only give an hour? No, not at all. Often times, once I get started, I completely lose track of the time and devote much more. But if I'm having a crap writing day, after minute 59, I give myself an out. Again, just like a workout. You have to break a sweat, but that doesn't mean you have to exhaust yourself. On days like that, just showing up is enough.
As far as my freelance stuff, it all depends on my deadlines. I procrastinate much less on my articles, so carving out time isn't that tough. Many times, I give myself that hour to work on my fiction (or else I'll end up skipping it altogether), and then, once my brain is in the "work mode," I transition pretty easily to my articles.
I think there are a couple of reasons why this works for me: 1) I don't expect too much from myself. As noted above, anyone can suffer through an hour. And 2) I've established a pattern that really works for my mental and physical schedule: I start writing right after my coffee has kicked in, when no one is around to bother me. No excuses. No reason NOT to dive in. It's a no-brainer.
Question of the day: What do agents charge? What advice do you have for someone that wants to write a book & be published?
Legitimate agents don't "charge" anything. If anyone, ANYONE, wants you to pay him or her for reading/submitting/publishing your manuscript, run, run, run as fast as you can in the other direction, and you might consider reporting him to Editors and Predators, as well.
Agents earn their keep by selling your work. Period. So if they make money only when YOU make money, which is critical, because their success is contingent on your success - this is why it behooves them to work for you. Agents usually take about 15% of the sale...so, if your ms sells for 10k, they earn $1500; if your ms sells for 100k, they earn 15k. You get the idea. Anyone who wants to charge you differently (more or less) is a scam artist. (I should note that these percentages might change slightly in the area of foreign rights, film, etc, but this is a general barometer.)
As far as how to get started? WRITE. Full stop. You cannot sell a book without having written it. I've read before that something like 90% of the populations believes that they are capable of writing a book. Ha! Of that 90% how many actually write it? Well, I don't have the specific percentage on that one, but I can assure you that it's a tiny fraction of this percentage. Wanting to write a book and actually doing it are two very, very different things. So get going. Prove to yourself that you're one of the few who CAN do it, not just dream it.
One of the things that I think I forget as a writer is how much fun it is to be, um, you know, not sitting in my office by myself all day long. I swear, in high school and college, I was super-social, but slowly, with every passing year, I've become hermetic, and honestly, if you locked me in my house with a computer and some supplies, I could probably live out my days happily. :)
So the good news is that I got off my ass last night, put on some killer heels (which subsequently twisted my ankle, proving that I am definitely more of a Converse gal than Louboutin gal) and trekked down to Prince Street to read with Laura Dave at McNally Jackson. And oh what a night we had!
The store was packed - standing room only, and it was chock full of friends, industry-folks and writers, including Anna David, Joanne Rendell, Alison Pace and Jasmin Rosemberg, and it was so, so, so awesome to have their support (and meet a few of them for the first time after years-long internet friendship). Laura and I each read sections from our books and then we took questions, which we answered in tandem. It's always interesting to hear how different authors approach different things - from the writing process to the research process to what we enjoy most (and least) about this whole shebang, so I actually thought it was a pretty informative gig (personally speaking, since I loved hearing Laura talk...I have no idea if I came off as a blithering idiot or an acute smarty).
Anyway, more importantly, I got out and met some readers who loved the book and talked to friends whom I haven't seen in a while and grabbed a slice of pizza with my agent (yes, very glamorous, we were both so exhausted that we begged off of the chichi drinks with Laura and her editor and some others), and came home both exhilarated and totally pooped. But it was a wonderful reminder that part of being a writer is getting out there in the world and soaking it all in...and now I have all the more material to seal myself in my office for at least another year. :)
By: Allison Winn Scotch,
on 4/28/2009
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I cannot claim this idea as my own, but I love it so much that I had to blog about it. I woke up this AM and checked Twitter and saw that @joshmalina, an actor whom I don't know, but whose work I have followed (West Wing, Big Shots - yeah, I watched that, so what?, I confessed as much to Michael Vartan when I interviewed him), posted the brilliant idea of tweeting your worst reviews. Ha!!!! I am SO DOWN for that.
Here's the thing about bad reviews: they may be eviscerating, gut-punching, vomit-inducing at the time, but I promise, you can look back at them and giggle. I swear. Case in point: when The Department came out, the Washington Post ripped me a new one. I mean, it was like the reviewer knew me and launched a personal attack. (Seriously, my agent saw it and called me to ask if I knew her!) The review, at the time, literally gave me the shakes - it was physically revolting. But now, omg, I saw Josh's tweet, and I'm actually laughing as I try to find the review on the internet to post it up. I mean, seriously! It was one stinking review that the reviewer took a little too seriously.
Anyway, whether you're on twitter or not (and if you are, come post your own bad review!), this is just a good reminder that this too shall pass. :)
Twitter: TOTAL PAN TUESDAY! #tpant
My twitter tag: @aswinn
UPDATE: Josh stops by in the comments section and weighs in! Say hi to him below!
By: Allison Winn Scotch,
on 4/13/2009
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So normally, I am a big fan of sitting down in front of the computer and cranking out at least 1k words come hell or highwater. If I didn't hold myself to this daily rule, my manuscript would never, ever get done. Let's face it: writers are the masters of procrastination, and certainly, an entire day can pass with me accomplishing exactly zilch. Thus, my per diem rule: crank those words out OR ELSE. (I don't actually have consequences for my OR ELSE, but much like when I use empty threats on my kids, this seems to work on me as well.)
Anyway, last week, I knew, knew, knew that I had to sit down and write. I'd blocked off the amounted time, opened the document, and...just couldn't. Well, that's not true. I could have. But I also knew that before I did, I had to sort out a quagmire that I'd run into with the ms. I wanted to write. So badly, did I want to write. Because, frankly, writing would have been easier than recognizing that I might have to go back and redo several parts of the ms, but...again, I couldn't. I knew that something had gone askew, and rather than stick to my 1k rule, I had to address it.
Now. To be honest, I wasn't sure if I were actually just procrastinating by PRETENDING the ms had a problem, or if I really and truly had a problem on my hand, but the morning turned to noon and noon turned to mid-afternoon, and all the while, I hadn't written a thing. But what I WAS doing was thinking. What appeared to be a total waste of a day was actually spend ruminating, even while I was on Facebook, or Twitter, or J.Crew or...well, you get the idea of how I spent my day.
And something pretty great happened during this day of doing nothing: I figured out how to resolve this problem, and now, I think the ms is going to be so much better for it. In most jobs, doing nothing means just that: you're wasting your time doing nothing. But as writers, some times, doing nothing is simply the best thing you can do. I could have wasted that day writing another chapter that would inevitably need to be overhauled OR, I could have stopped, thought about things, and considered that just as productive - if not more so - than upping my word count.
So this week? This week I'm starting at the beginning (yet again - I think this is my third redraft of the first half of the ms), and that's totally fine. I want to get this part just right because if I don't, then the second part of the ms will have to be just as overhauled as this part has been, and if I can work out the kinks now, all of that extra work won't be necessary. So...if you're having a day in which you seem to do anything BUT write, that's okay! In our world, "not working" can still be considered "work," and sometimes, it might be just what your ms needs.
Question of the day: Do you feel the current state of the economy is dictating what books are being published? For instance, my second novel is about a mother caring for her adult daughter who suffers from a chronic illness. I am struggling to find an agent for it, although all my rejections are personal. You were able to write about cancer and yet didn't scare away agents, why is writing about diseases now so taboo? Everyone says that my writing is great, yet they say that the subject matter is a tough sell right now. Arrgh!! I wanted this to be my break-out novel and it's not breaking anything but my heart. I've written a third novel in the meantime and my publisher is gobbling it up, but I had hoped to have an agent by now to help me. What would you do, wait to see if the second book can find an agent or go ahead and sign the papers on the third book even though I'm sure the contract will be bad? Do desperate times call for desperate measures or is patience a virtue on this one?
I'll offer a third suggestion: since your newer book is the one that's generating the heat, why don't you shop that one around to agents? I wouldn't sign a contract that I know is going to be crappy, but an agent can certainly take a crappy contract and make it a better one, AND, hey, you never know what other offers an agent could get you. If your previous manuscript just isn't getting the job done, set it aside, and you might discover that as time goes on, your wound will mend...especially if you sell the next one. :) And once you've sold the other one, who knows, maybe it will open doors for the one you have your heart set on right now.
I think the key is not to get too, too, too invested in one manuscript, such that it can divert the trajectory of your career. A lot of us have had that ms, the one that we poured every ounce of ourselves into and that ultimately didn't sell, but I'll tell you what: I am so grateful that I didn't get hung up on that specific ms and that I moved on from it, because if I hadn't, my career would be DOA right about now.
As far as the first half of your question, I'm going to devote a separate post to it because I think it's a worthy discuss to have in and of itself.
Good luck and hang in there! BTDT. Other readers who have BTDT, can you weigh in and help her out?
Question of the day: Was it difficult to create relationships with editors at magazines, and thus, create work through said relationships?
Hmmm, well, I guess it depends on your definition of difficult. :) The reason I say this is because creating these relationships is sort of like establishing your freelance career: they happen over time and eventually snowball, but there are a lot of factors that are going to contribute to your success (or lack thereof).
The first thing you have to remember is that you're going to have to be persistent. If you don't hear back (which you likely won't) from a query, follow-up, follow-up, follow-up. If you have other ideas for an editor if she passes on your initial query, send them, send them, send them! Too many aspiring mag writers give up on an editor, and while sure, sometimes you should, many times, you shouldn't. You have to keep pitching until you find something that sticks.
From there, once you land the assignment, you need to nail it. By that I mean that you need to consider her instructions and deliver what you promised you would. Without careless fact-checking errors and typos and all of those easily-correctable mistakes that look sloppy. Your job as a writer is not just to hand in a great piece but also to help make your editor's job easier. Yes, I know this sounds sycophantic, but I don't mean you have to turn yourself into a slobbering servant, but yeah, you need to ensure that the piece really is the very best that you could make it.
After that, you need to be amenable to reasonable edits. These days, yeah, I hear about some ridiculous requests for revisions and no, you are not a doormat, but I consider two rounds of revisions fair game (this is just my opinion, of course), and even if the questions and red-lining are driving you crazy, that's part of the deal, and you'd be wise not to let your editor know. When I was really in the thick of my mag writing, I really did pride myself on the fact that there was very little editors could or would ask of me that I couldn't get done. And I think they knew this, which is part of the reason I was a go-to writer. (I am not talking about those last-minute 10PM "we need a total overhaul by tomorrow" requests, which I perhaps would conveniently not reply to until a reasonable hour the next morning. I'm talking about what I considered fair requests even if they were annoying and pains in the ass.)
Finally, I made it a point to be friendly with my editors. Not everyone is comfortable with this, but for me, it was only natural. I knew about their kids, I knew about their outside interests. And I really think it benefited me - not in a selfish way, like I was learning about their lives only to land work - but because it made our collective experience working together a hell of a lot more fun and enjoyable. You're a lot less likely to get irritated with an editor (or conversely, a writer) if you genuinely like her, and I really did (and do) like the majority of my editors, and I think they felt the same way. We enjoyed working together, partially for the reasons mentioned above (i.e, I worked my tail off for them) and partially because we had something in common other than the 750 words we were working on together.
So, all in all, was it hard? As you can see, yes and no. I also found that if I did good work for one editor, she was always happy to refer me to another, and from there, an entire network of business contacts AND friendships have been built. But it takes time and hard work. But yeah, it's entirely doable, in my opinion.
What about you guys out there? Easy or hard to build those relationship?
Question of the day: I'm curious about how you broke into writing for major women's magazines. Is it hard to do so? Harder now with the economy than it used to be? You did a great blog a while back about how you packaged a story with a "Why You Resist/Why We Insist" theme and I wondered how a big a part of the process that is -- coming up with the catchy concept and headline.
I'm going to break this question up into a few parts because it has a lot of different elements to it, so check back for the answers to the second and third questions.
I think I've chatted about this before, but I'm happy to revisit. I broke into women's magazines in a fairly untraditional manner: I did it with no magazine experience. Basically, many years ago, I was doing some celebrity ghostwriting for a PR firm (yes, celebs hire ghostwriters and don't pen things themselves), and I was antsy to break out and do some editorial work. I was planning my wedding at the time, so sent of a pitch letter to The Knot, which now is a magazine, but back then, was only a website. I figured it would be an easy way to break in. Well, as fate would have it, they were looking for a ghostwriter for one of their books. I submitted a proposal, along with some sample chapters, and they hired me. I know. I couldn't have been more floored.
While the experience was less than ideal (for reasons I won't publicly get into - and don't take this as disparaging against the current Knot - this was years ago and many editorial teams ago), I have no regrets about it. Because with that on my pitch letter, "I recently ghostwrote XYZ for The Knot," I broke down my first door. I fired off a query to Bride's, based on a similar subject to the book, and voila, was granted my first feature. Easy as pie!
Ha! While it didn't take me long to break in, once I broke in, it DID take me a looooong time to land something else worthwhile. I did contract one other feature relatively quickly, only to be met with a swift and nasty kill fee, for reasons never explained to me and yeah, oh boy, was that demoralizing. (And FYI, in my defense, I'd freaking outlined the piece AND written half of it in proposal form, so to this day, I remember that editor and would never work with her again.) So instead of concentrating on features, I opted to really bone up my clips: I started pitching FOBs and a variety of websites, who always need more articles than magazines do, and slowly, things began snowballing for me. Cooking Light and Men's Health (I adore those editors to this day) began contracting a bunch of my FOB ideas, and eventually, I was able to leverage my good work with those shorter articles into feature pieces, not only for those original magazines but others as well.
Breaking into magazines requires a lot, A LOT of patience. There is very, very little instant gratification but if you realize you're in it for the long-haul, and attack your career with that mentality - whittling away piece by piece - I do think that you can find success.
So I'd love to hear from readers how YOU broke into mags.
Question of the day: Recently on the Dystel & Goderich blog there was a post that bemoaned the fact that agents are having a difficult time getting editors to read their submissions. I'm wondering if other agents are finding this also. Excerpt from DG blog: "Has EVERYBODY stopped reading? This last week a senior editor at a major publishing house received a proposal from us and rather than read it at all, she simply looked up other books in the category and decided that since they hadn’t sold, it wasn’t even worth reading one word of this author’s work. In another, rather shocking instance, a publisher of a very good house turned down material I had submitted saying that the fiction market was extremely difficult these days. I couldn’t believe my eyes when I read the note – the material I had submitted clearly stated that it was a memoir."
Well, I'm not an agent, but I do chat with my agent regularly, and from what I can tell, it's not that people have stopped reading, it's that acquiring has certainly slowed down, and thus, unless an editor really believes that what he/she is about to take a look at is really going to be worth her time, she's not going to devote said time to it.
One thing that is definitely happening right now, given slow book sales and the whole gloom and doom economy is that fewer books are getting bought and those books that ARE getting bought are selling for a whole lot less than they would have a year ago. I definitely even saw this when we sold The Happiest Days of My Life. Yeah, I got a very nice-sized advance, and trust me, I'm not complaining, but numerous parties involved noted that in a different environment, it would have been an even nicer-sized advance. But again, I'm not complaining. I'm happy to have had a healthy offer and a guarantee of a published book than nothing else, and yeah, these days, plenty of authors who would otherwise have a shot aren't getting them.
So are editors reading less? I'm sure. Because they're buying less. That's the real root of the problem here. Sort of like how in better times, I'd immediately open shopping emails (i.e, J. Crew) in my inbox just to see if there might be something that catches my eye. Now? I rarely bother because I'm not going to spend the money on something that I really don't need.
That said, I'm sorry that you got that "fiction" rejection for your memoir. That does feel sloppy and dismissive, but regardless, it's a "no" all the same, and I'd just try to forget about it. I don't know, maybe it's better to hold off on submissions until things are on the upswing? What do you guys think?
By: Allison Winn Scotch,
on 3/3/2009
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So, as a follow up to yesterday's post about writing blog posts on the weekends, I've also changed something pretty dramatic about my weekend behavior as of late. And that's this: I no longer check my email over the weekends. Gasp! True, my Blackberry does go off, but I almost always just tune out the emails as soon as they come in. And despite my Blackberry, I make a very conscious choice not to open my inbox from Friday night until Monday AM.
And you know what? I totally freaking love it. I am not beholden to think about work for an entire two days, and as a result, on Monday AM, just with the blog posts, I sit down at my desk totally re-energized.
In this day and age of instant technology, I think it can seem scary to ignore your email (and again, yeah, if there were a crisis or whatnot, I have my Blackberry to warn me), but I'm telling you, the world does not stop for these few days or hours. I was someone who was sort of always on-call, and it feels so, so, so liberating not to be. Honestly, if you're feeling burnt out, try it! Just knowing that I can ignore someone's request for my time or thoughts or answers for a few days makes me feel empowered and more in control of my time and schedule.
Anyone else do this? Or thinking about it? Give it a try!
By: Allison Winn Scotch,
on 1/15/2009
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Today I'm over at Writer Unboxed talking about lifting my reading ban while writing in hopes of uncovering inspiration. (Though the good news is that since I wrote that blog post, I've reread what I've written of HAPPIEST DAYS and am quite pleased, which has lit the spark for me to keep writing - yay!)
Check it out!
By: Allison Winn Scotch,
on 12/23/2008
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I was reading a recent issue of EW (aka: my bible) on vacation, and saw this lovely interview with Matthew Weiner, who is the creator of the incredible show, Mad Men. I'm transcribing it below because I thought it opened up a really valuable discussion to have here at AA.
Here's what he said.
1) He realized he wasn't smart - yet. "I started looking at people whose careers I wanted - David Chase, Woody Allen - and saw that I was not on that path.)
2) He said no. "I turned down a contract at Becker, even though I had no other job. It proved that I was uncompromising. Or crazy."
3) He made stuff. "I wrote the Mad Men script to show what I could do."
4) He never gave up. "It takes hundreds of no's to get a yes. How many networks are there? That's how many no's I got."
5) He played nice with everyone. "My Mad Men script was given to AMC by my manager's former assistant. Taking your aggression out on anyone will always come back to bite you. Sometimes in the parking lot after the meeting."
So why did I take the time to post this interview? I thought that Weiner shares some pretty valuable tips on having the guts and survival instinct to hang in there for many years of moderate, though not showstopping success. But I also think his fourth point raises an interesting question that we don't often discuss here at AA, because I'm all about the positivity. But that question, and I hate to say it, but it's an important one, is: how do I know if these hundreds of rejections are simply part of the process or are a larger sign that I might not have what it takes?
Here's the truth: if you speak with agents and editors (and I have), all of them, when they're being honest, will tell you that a good many aspiring writers have no business hoping to move from aspiring to published. Obviously, writing is a subjective thing, and what is good to one person will certainly suck for another (just read any author's reviews and you'll see a wide range), but on the whole (and yes, there are exceptions, where universally, everyone says, how the hell did that get published), most published writers have a certain something that appeals. I don't know what it is. An innate knack? An innate voice? A very well-learned skill? It's really difficult to say, especially to say without coming off like a pompous ass, but again, the hard truth of this business, much like acting or any other artistic profession, is that not everyone is created equal. This is not a Montessori-like business where everyone is given and deserves a shot. (Says the mom who sends her kids to Montessori, so I'm certainly not knocking that educational method!)
How do you know if you have what it takes? That's where it gets tricky. Because I, for one, don't know the answer. Rejection, as noted above by Weiner, is so much a part of our business that it's difficult when to take something personally. I, of course, always tell you guys NOT to take stuff personally because, after all, this is a business. But never, ever, ever taking something to heart might mean that you're ignoring warning signs that, well, maybe this isn't the industry for you. I don't know. I know authors who have gotten 100s of rejections and finally landed an agent. I know authors who have gotten one yes at a publishing house after every other place rejected him/her. But I also know plenty of people who have never gotten that yes. Does it mean that they won't ever? No, of course not. But when (and why and how) do you draw the line? Because, let's be honest at the most pure level, some people are better simply writers than others. (Again, this feels very weird to say without coming off like an ass - and please know that I'm certainly not elevating myself here! I'm just opening up this discussion). How do you know if you're one of them? Again, tough call. I think being objective about your own work, as I've discussed in the past, is incredibly difficult, and sometimes, finding anyone who will be objective about your work and tell you the truth is incredibly difficult. Not to mention that again, many things are subjective, so one person's trash is another's treasure.
I don't really have any sagacious answers here. But I do think it's worth talking about. Certainly some people write for the pure pleasure of it, but others will chase the dream of being published for their entire lives, and if you do chase that dream...would you want to know if you just weren't going to cut it? Or alternatively, how DO YOU know that you weren't going to cut it? (I'm not saying that one poor manuscript won't give way to a better one - it happened in my case and has happened with countless writers I know. But yes, there are aspiring writers out there who are never going to leap the hurdle.) So how do you know?
Thanks so much to everyone for your well-wishes and congrats! I sincerely appreciate it so much.
Okay, so I promised a little behind-the-scenes detail from the book sale and some other stuff, so here goes. Warning: I'm extremely zonked right now, so I might split this post in half - part today, part tomorrow. But I'll get you all the info, I promise!
So, what was most gratifying about the sale of The Happiest Days of My Life was that it validated everything that I have placed my faith in over the past few years. Let me rewind and explain because I think this might give some of you a bit of inspiration too.
When I sold The Department, we sold it for what Pub Mktplace would "a very nice" deal. In non-PM terms, this means that the pub house has some faith in you, that you'll likely get some co-op/promo budget, and that expectations are that you'll sell a decent amount of books. So...what happened with the Department is that it sold...a decent amount of books. Not great. Not terrible. Adequate. Cancer books, I realized even though plenty of people told me this and I didn't believe them because I'm apt not to believe negative things, are very, very hard sells. It doesn't matter that it gets great reviews or is mentioned in a variety of huge magazines. People don't want to read about cancer (often - not always) or other harrowing situations that they've faced in their real lives (like, I would never pick up a book that deals with a sick child because it's just something that, though I've never been it through personally, I could not stomach at all), and...well, lesson learned. No cancer. Nothing that will turn potential readers away.
I also learned to think BIG CONCEPT, which is something we've been chatting about here on the blog. A good book isn't enough these days to set it apart from the other good books that are out there. Not for midlist authors who have to fight for attention. So I started thinking BIG CONCEPT, came up with Time of My Life, drafted the first 100 pages, and voila, my agent was ready to sell them. (Actually - tangent, I forgot. Before this BIG CONCEPT thing dawned on me, I wrote 150 pages of a different book. We shopped it around and got middling offers. Offers, yes, 4 of them if I recall, but they were lower than my original advance, and truth told, I knew I could write a better book. BUT. This is when my agent said something very wise, very pivotal, and something that I had to believe, just because I believed in her. She said that the third book was when we should expect my advance to explode. That these first two books were stepping stones to prove myself and to build my audience, and that the money we got now wasn't the money we were really chasing. It was a long-term strategy that wasn't necessarily easy to accept because who knew if it would pay off, but we didn't have much of a choice. Ultimately, we walked away from these 4 tepid offers because not only did I want to write a better book, but I also knew that these lower advances would mean a smaller print run and less promotion/co-op...which meant that this third-book advance strategy that we were aiming for would backfire. Advances are all built off of how well your previous book sold, and if my second one sold poorly, I was screwed.)
Anyway, back to those 100 pages. So, my agent shopped them around to very, very positive responses. BUT. As with that other ms, the advances, while higher - generally around what I earned for The Department - were, well, disappointing. Not because by any objective terms they were disappointing, but because you hope to build and build and build, and in this case, I'd flat-lined. Why? Because The Department's sales were only okay. My sales track record spoke for itself, and even though everyone who read these 100 pages of Time of My Life agreed that it was a bigger, more universal, break-out book, no one wanted to literally bet on it. My agent said - and I agree, to this day - that had ToML been my debut, I would have been paid huge money for it. But it wasn't, and I was swimming against the current of my previous sales, and that was that.
Ultimately, we did all that we could with our situation: we went with the best editor, the best imprint, the team I'd been dying to work with, and yes, they also offered the most money. But I was prepared to go with them for less because I knew that I was at a critical juncture: crappy sales and crappy promotional game-plan and crappy art, etc, meant that my future as a novelist would be in jeopardy. Because I couldn't stomach banging out novel after novel for dwindling advances and lackluster sales. It's hard to explain until you've been through it, but it's like your heart gets crushed when your book doesn't perform to your expectations (forget the industry's), and I just knew that I wouldn't want to go through it over and over again.
So, through all of this, my agent kept reminding me about book #3. That that would be our big one. I didn't focus on this while I worked on ToML, but certainly, I aspired to it. I trusted my agent's instincts, and while I'm sure that I would have worked just as hard on every aspect of ToML regardless of the prospect of an even bigger book the next time around, it was nice to know that I could swim upstream and possibly overcome the sales record of The Department. My agent thought I could, my editor thought I could, and most importantly, I thought I could.
The news this week of the sale of The Happiest Days of My Life was, of course, incredibly exciting and gratifying. But not because of the $$$ behind it. (Though that's great too.) Really, it's because I've worked very, very hard to get to where I am. I tried to be as smart as I possibly could be in an industry that isn't always forgiving or easy to understand. When things didn't go as well as I hoped, and certainly, I could have settled for different options, I didn't. I didn't settle. And it was tough. I'll be honest. It required a lot of optimism and false confidence when I didn't feel too chipper about the news that was coming in. But it worked. My agent was right. I do feel incredibly lucky to have achieved what I've achieved, but I also feel like I've earned it, you know? Not everyone will love what I write, and that's okay. But no one can say that I haven't earned it. And to me, that's what matters.
And I hope that in sharing this (there is plenty more to share, but that's tomorrow, as I'm about to collapse on my keyboard), you guys might see just what I'm talking about in terms of thinking long-term in your careers. Forget the instant gratification of landing that fat advance and think of your career in a larger scale.
Tomorrow: branding and strategy behind book #3.
By: Allison Winn Scotch,
on 10/3/2008
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Okay, I won't lie. Despite my post earlier this week about trying to be zen about next week, I don't think I'm being particularly zen. This was pretty clear when I was up at 4am last night, trying desperately to fall back asleep but sensing that my brain wasn't going to allow it. So now, I'm just all about coping mechanisms. I've found that really, the only way to sap any stress from my body is via exercise, but even that isn't totally cutting the mustard right now. I got a massage earlier this week, and now...I'm wondering what else I should do. It seems like distraction might be a good tactic: maybe immerse myself in a movie or something so I actually forget about what's happening (my book is coming out!) next week.
So what do you guys do when you feel like you're about to spontaneously combust? I bet we could all learn a thing or two!
And with that, I'm off to shoot a tv spot for ToML - how cool, right? I can only hope that I don't appear as exhausted on screen as I am off! :)
By: Allison Winn Scotch,
on 10/1/2008
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So, despite the fact that I am feeling all sorts of anxious pressure this week, I am also seriously loving my job right now too. One of the things I love most about what I do is that I get the chance to speak to all sorts of people whose work I admire, so I am super-super-super psyched to interview Kyle Chandler and Connie Britton from Friday Night Lights this week. I even got to see an advanced screener of the season three premiere episode! My husband walked into my office and said, "Nice, I thought you were working," and I said, "I AM working, darling! THIS is my work!" I mean, what a great job I have: watching one of my favorite all-time shows as a requirement for an interview! Btw, if you're not watching this show, you are seriously missing out. I was a late-comer to it, but bought both seasons of DVDs (like, $25 on Amazon), and it was the best money I've ever spent. For real.
I'm also loving life this week because I wrote the cover story for American Way that comes out today, in which I interviewed Brooke Shields. I do a lot of celebrity interviews, but most of these are Q/As, and when I was assigned this piece, my editor and I chatted about the fact that I'd write it as a straight profile. And man, I was nervous. Nervous, nervous, nervous. But I pushed myself and pushed myself, and I got over my nerves, and I focused, and I wrote a piece that I'm really proud of. Which just goes to show that even after years in this business, you can always challenge yourself and find new ways to raise the bar. It went so well that I wrote the next cover piece for American Way too.
And then, to top off this already awesome week, I'm also profiled in American Way! Squeee! Check out the interview they did of me about Time of My Life. It was soooo strange to be on the other side of the interview, but it was a lot of fun, and I'm thrilled with how it came out.
So tell me, what's your favorite part of your job? Have you ever tackled a project that you thought might be out of your league, and then proved to yourself that you could do it?
By: Allison Winn Scotch,
on 9/16/2008
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...this is what they can accomplish.
As a follow-up to last week's post about Lori Hall Steele, I am THRILLED to say that since we started our "everyone give $25" campaign, we have raised over $17,000!!!! (This includes a $5000 grant that she received from ASJA.) Not only will this provide peace of mind for Lori that she can stop focusing on losing her house and start focusing on her health, but it will also start to help pay her medical bills. And we're not done yet: this is part of a larger initiative to help her with her bills.
All of this goes to show that even if you don't know Lori, even if you've never been affected by such perilous circumstances, even if you've never been in debt or been in poor health or wondered how you would cope if tragedy strikes, as a freelancer, you are part of a larger community who will help cushion the fall if you take one. Often times, it doesn't feel this way. We lead, in many ways, solitary existences: we don't have office buddies, we don't have support staffs. We have ourselves, our ideas, and our computers. We can measure our success against others, but really, we hope to measure our success against ourselves, and in the grand scheme of of things, it's easy to feel pretty small, a blip sitting alone in your home office, wondering if this is an endless uphill battle.
But what Lori's situation has shown us, I hope, is that we're not alone, we're not isolated blips surrounded by the melancholy of our own shadows. We are, in many ways, in this together - an idea that I've long espoused here on Ask Allison - and I'm truly grateful to all of you who have contributed questions, blog comments, support for my books, and especially, to Lori's cause. If you ever feel like this career is too lonely or too isolating, consider what we've all done for her (and she for us), and know that you really are part of something bigger, even if it doesn't feel this way every moment of every day.
So I got back from vacation last night - we actually came back early because we were so ready to return to real life - and I woke up early this AM with that panicky feeling that comes when you have soooooo much on your plate that you don't even know where to begin. Yikes. Can anyone relate? Nah - I'm sure that none of you out there feel so busy that you actually feel your pulse speed up when you think of everything you have to get done!
But here's the reality I recognized this AM: my book is coming out in a month! Holy freakin' crap. Which means that I have to start answering a variety of Q/As for blogs, put together a reading group guide for my publisher, stay on top of the PR/marketing stuff that's happening, check in with the movie folks who said they might have some news soon, etc, etc, etc. On top of that, my fabu hubby is throwing me a book party after my NYC reading (NYC-ers, let me know if you're around on Oct 15th, and I'll send you details!), so I'm trying to coordinate that too.
Oh, and there's all of my freelancing stuff to attend to: I love doing all of my celebrity stuff, which is primarily what I focus on these days, but now I have a slew of interviews to conduct and draft within the next two weeks.
Oh, and did I mention that we're moving out of our house in two weeks? Um, yep. For four-six months to endure construction. (Don't get me started on this one. Let's just say that I love my husband very, very, very much to put up with this!)
So...back to the point of this post. We're always discussion how we all juggle our myriad hats as freelancers, and today, here's what I did: I woke up, and started doing things immediately. While my kids' waffles cooked, I followed up on some celeb stuff and some book PR stuff on my laptop in the kitchen. Once they were settled in with my sitter, I came up to my office and fired off emails about some book club guide questions. Then I dealt with a few party-related emails. Then I posted this blog. Next, I'll take a quick walk to clear my mind (and go grocery shopping!), then I'll head right back here to keep plugging away.
For me, the only way that this stuff gets done is to do it. Now. So I am.
Anyone else wake up today - the first day after a lazy summer - and feel like everything was snowballing?
By: Allison Winn Scotch,
on 7/14/2008
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Question of the day: Here is a question I've been wanting to ask you... My agent recently sent my book proposal to publishers - that was about 3 weeks ago. I am going crazy waiting. Is this a normal time delay or should I ask her to check up on it and send to more publishers?
Oh geez, and here I kept you waiting for an answer for a week or so too. Apologies!
I hear you. I feel you. This wait is excruciating. It is enough to make a sane man (or woman) lose his marbles. But...three weeks isn't so long, I hate to say. I'd say that the average wait time (anecdotally, of course, I don't have concrete facts on this) is anywhere from six weeks to three months.
But that time frame is contingent on a lot of things, and certainly, you can hear back faster. I've heard back faster on all of my books (including the one that I wrote between The Department and Time of My Life, that we got offers on but decided to ditch and head back to the drawing board). It really depends on how much leverage your agent has with editors, how badly editors want to read the book (i.e., will they put it atop their TBR pile even if they have others that came in first), and of course, if you get a bite from someone else. In all of cases, this is what happened: my agent had good enough relationships with the editors to nudge the book forward and once we had interested from one publisher, she alerted everyone else who started reading asap.
So...the long answer to your question is that it really all depends, but NOT hearing by now doesn't mean anything! Don't fret. I know PLENTY of writers who sold after three or so months, and yes, I do know writers who sold after four days. It doesn't matter WHEN you sell, as long as you sell period. So, if you can (which you probably can't - I know from experience), try to find something else to occupy yourself with and trust that when there's news, you'll know. (Btw, if you do have the type of relationship with your agent in which you can check in, then do. If it helps assuage your anxiety, I say go for it.)
Readers who have sold books, how long did it take you to hear? What took so long or sped things along?
By: Allison Winn Scotch,
on 7/8/2008
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Question of the day: can one look for a mentor in the writing business and how?
Absolutely. I assume that you mean formal mentor, which I'll get to in a second, but I also heartily recommend befriending writers whose careers you admire because often times, if they're generous (and many writers are), you can learn simply by example. The best place that I've found to do this is on FreelanceSuccess.com, where people dole out info and advice by the bucketfuls on the forum, and are always willing to advise you on whatever your dilemma/question, as long as it's not too, too insipid (and this is a high bar, so don't worry) and as long as they have an actual answer. (Thus, if you post something and don't get any replies, it's likely that no one knows the answer, not that you smell.)
As far as formal mentoring, I do know some writers who offer guidance and classes and such. I don't want to name them personally because I'm not sure if they're looking to take on new clients, but I welcome people to post names and referrals below. Alternatively, consider contacting associations such as ASJA or even Mediabistro. I know that ASJA has a formal mentoring program that it offers at its conference, and you might be able to hook up with someone throughout the year as well. Other than that, consider sending a writer whom you admire a note and asking him/her to BE your mentor. Several people have written me in the past to request a mentorship, but I've never been comfortable taking money from fellow-writers (and frankly, I never really had the time to take this on), but definitely, some writers love mentoring, and they'll jump at your request.
I'm sure that there are other great ways to find mentors: readers want to chime in with ideas?
By: Allison Winn Scotch,
on 7/7/2008
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Question of the day: I'm an English teacher who woke up one day and realized she has to go after her dream of becoming a writer now or go broke. I want to pursue writing novels and short stories and possibly articles. I was wondering how can I break into the business and earn enough that I can quit my job? I know it's going to probably take a long time but I'm willing to give it a shot. Also, can one look for a mentor in the writing business and how?
I think I've addressed the first question before (search the archives for a header called "Ditching the Day Job"), but I'm happy to answer it again, though I'm not sure that you'll be happy with the answer, which is this: it is likely that it will be a very, very long time until you can quit your day job. Bummer, I know. Actually, let me caveat that: it all depends on what sort of income you deem acceptable to live on. I live in NYC: my requirements for living/earning are a lot higher than someone who lives in the plains of Kansas. In other words: 50k in NYC is not the same thing as 50k in the plains of Kansas.
So, with that caveat out of the way, here are some additional thoughts. Several surveys have recently been conducted on what freelancers earn, including this ASJA one, and most freelancers (according to the ASJA poll, nearly 70%) earn less than 50k. (And according to that same poll, it took 4-5 years to establish themselves.) If I recall correctly, another survey I read about pegged that salary at closer to 40k. So - again, your 40k might not be my 40k, but it's a good barometer for what you might expect to earn after years of breaking in. This is not a career for those who aspire to lives of luxury.
Is it possible to earn more? Sure. Of course. I'm an example of it. I've worked my tail off and been lucky enough to make a healthy living as a freelancer, but I don't know that you should count on it. I really do believe that timing and luck (and yes, perseverance and chemistry with editors and personality) play into a writer's success, and I'd be foolish to think that I hadn't reaped the benefits of both of these.
I think it also depends on what sort of writing you do. I know far more full-time magazine writers than I do novelists. The average fiction advance is pitifully small (less than 10k), and you simply (obviously) can't survive on this if you're expected to contribute to the household income in any significant way. Magazine writing can be more lucrative (ergo that 40-50k annual earning), but much of this is feast or famine: you might have months-long dry spells and then be so busy that you can't keep your deadlines straight. So...one more thing to be aware of when and if you quit. I know several best-selling novelists who have yet to quit their day jobs. Seriously. Maybe this is a case of being overly-cautious (who am I to judge? I don't have access to their financial statements), but it can also be prudent: an advance is a one-time thing and if you don't keep selling new books to a publisher or earn royalties, well, that's all you're earning from this book.
Okay. I feel like I've been really discouraging. I don't mean to. Because it is fully possible to make a living as a freelancer. Just as me! (Er, you already did!) And plenty of my friends. But it is a process - and it can be a long one. I was lucky: due to a variety of circumstances, I was contracted to write a book nearly as soon as I left PR, and from there, national magazines followed. But I still continued to supplement my income with PR work until it was clear that I could literally afford to drop it. So I guess what I'm saying here is dig into the trenches and be prepared to walk uphill. If you're a teacher, find time to pitch smaller magazines, local publications or websites (all of which will be easier to break into) in the afternoon when school is out. (Again, check the archives for breaking in - there's a lot of good info on how to do it. You can also search for "FOB.") But don't march into the Principal's office and yell, "I quit," just yet. Eventually, maybe, probably even. But not until you have your ducks in a row and feel certain that there are clients and editors out there waiting for you to write for them.
As far as your mentoring question, I'll answer it tomorrow! I've been long-winded enough today as it is. :)
So readers, when did you quit your day job? How did you know that it was the right time? And if you haven't, when do you plan to?
By: Allison Winn Scotch,
on 6/24/2008
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Yes, I think I just made up a word, so you don't have to email me to tell me.
But a funny thing happened as soon as I put up the last post about having absolutely zero motivation to accomplish anything ever. I had, as I noted, a long list of to-dos, and obviously, they weren't going to get done on their own. (Including sending in my estimated taxes, which, oops, I was so brain-dead that I flaked on. So, er, yeah, this whole procrastination thing was definitely taking its (literal) toll...and let's hope I'm not penalized by the nice folks at the IRS!)
But anyway, after posting, I did something new-to-me, which was, as soon as I thought about a task, I did it. Like, that moment. So, I thought about paying my AmEx bill and even though I really wanted to click on Facebook, I instead clicked on my banking page. Then, I thought about those damn taxes and instead of clicking on People, I wrote a check. And as soon as I started doing this crap, it got easier...and really, didn't take up too much more time or energy.
And then, I actually started focusing on work. It all started snowballing - something flashes in my brainscan and rather than waste the energy of thinking of when I could do it another time, I just did it! I wrote three blog posts, I started going through my proof pages, and best of all, I actually sat down - right when the impulse struck - and drafted the first scene for my new book.
It was so energizing! I can't recommend this more. Normally, I'm a list-maker - I jot everything down and axe it as I go. But right now, it seems like the only way for me to accomplish stuff is to seize the moment. Try it! It might work for you!
By: Allison Winn Scotch,
on 4/11/2008
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So I usually don't blog on Fridays, but I wanted to take a moment to share a wonderful experience that I had last night. I was fortunate enough to be invited to a get-together with several other authors, and we convened yesterday for high tea. What a blast! (The company might have even been better than the scones, and that's saying a lot.)
In attendance were Sarah Mlynowski, Jane Green, Laura Dave, Emma McLaughlin, Nicola Kraus, and Lynda Curnyn. (Leslie Margolis was sick, so couldn't make it.) Now, these are women who, conceivably, do not need to sit down with other writers to chew the (literal and otherwise) fat. The above names, for the most part, are big, big names in women's fiction and YA and the world of writing in general, so the fact that they all hustled their butts to a tea salon in Gramercy Park to meet other writers says a lot about them.
And oh what fun we had. Yes, there was some industry gossip, but mostly, it was just getting to know each other and supportive stories from the trenches and figurative pats on the backs or shoulders to bitch on. And this, to me, is what makes these women so amazing...and what we need more of in this industry. It's even more fitting because I'm attending a dinner for FLX members tomorrow, and nowhere is there a more supportive writers network than on FLX.
Writers need to support other writers. Women need to support other women. As Emma said at one point, we are not opening weekends. We are not competing with one another for box office seats. Their readers are my readers, and vice versa. Failing to realize this can not only alienate you from other authors, I truly believe that it can limit your personal growth, which, really, is probably leaps and bounds more important than your total book sales at the end of the day. And, incidentally, this is the same reason that I don't post negative reviews on places like GoodReads: this writing business is tough enough, why bring someone else down?
And, of course, that's also what this blog is all about. So, even though we haven't all met for high tea, I do hope that we all put out there what we take in, that we all sow and reap and reap and sow. I'm grateful that other writers feel the same, and I'm grateful that you guys do as well.
Today, I'm giving confession (even though I'm Jewish). This week, I royally screwed up an article. I didn't realize, of course, that I'd screwed it up so badly - in fact, I thought it was perfectly fine, if not better than fine, or else I wouldn't have handed it in - but when my editor pointed out where and why it wasn't fine, I realized just how in the wrong I had been.
And when I realized my error, I also wondered if it were possible to die from mortification, because I nearly felt like I might.
I've written, I dunno, hundreds of articles in the past few years. I can't remember a time, barring the second article I'd ever written for a national magazine, when I hadn't produced what I was capable of...or at least made the editor happy enough so that he or she thought it was what I was capable of. And this time, well, in retrospect, I didn't. In retrospect, I see why I didn't: I did an interview in which I was totally charmed by my interviewee, and we were having such a good chat - in the way that you do with a confidante - that I failed in my mission to conduct a really probing Q/A.
So what was I to do? I did the only thing I knew how to: I tried to rectify the situation as fast as humanly possible all the while owning up to what I did. I sent off a contrite note to my editor saying, in essence, "Look, I take responsibility for this mistake, it was my fault, and I'm busting my ass to fix it." And in the subsequent nights, I lost sleep (literally) until I found a way to resolve it.
But resolve it I did. That's all I could do. One of my biggest pet peeves in work (and in life - just ask my husband) is when you don't take ownership for your mistakes. No one is interested in excuses, even if you somehow think they cast you in a better light. Most often, they don't. So just get on with it, apply the band-aid and find a way to heal the wound.
I'm hopeful that I did. And you can be damn sure that this is a lesson well-learned. Just because you're a pro doesn't mean that you're infallible. I won't forget that again.
So tell me, anyone want to share their own screw-up story, just to make me feel a little better? :) Or if not, share what you do when you realize that you've made a professional screw-up.
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Susan Elizabeth Phillips said in a speech many years back to, "Protect the work." That's my advice. Sometimes it means ignoring your CP's advice, but sometimes it means PROTECTING YOU!!!
As much as I love and am grateful for the online writing community (it's how I found my CP's AND my agent!), sometimes too much information is BAD BAD BAD! You have to know when to walk away and stick those fingers in your ears and go, "LALALALA I"M NOT LISTENING!" --whether it's not following a feed from a conference on twitter (sorry bad grammar), or not reading PubMarketplace everyday or not scanning the USA today list to see what's on top. You have to protect your psyche. Not to the extent you live in a cave but you have to find that line that works for you.
This will sounds awful, but "lower your expectations" works for me. That's not to say that, one day, I wouldn't like to see my name on every single book on a 'Best Sellers' stand - quite the opposite.
What I mean is that far too many people I 'speak' with online EXPECT their book to be a raging success. They EXPECT to get published, earn millions and be a household name.
Lowering that expectation to being good enough to get another freelance gig from the same client or to have some positive, constructive criticism from peers helps me retain my fragile sanity.
Step by step, stubbornly pushing forward, then one day we'll be where we want to be. There's no need to run - you'll just wear yourself out.
Great post. Hits me at a time when I am trying to keep the faith, trying to deflect all the bad juju.
Either you quit or you don't. You believe in yourself, or you don't. There really is no point in wallowing in the unfairness and unpredictability of it all--although I have to admit, this added market stress on top of all the other why-this-might-not-happen for me thing---THAT lately seems to have the potential to break my last straw. But I simply won't let it.
What blows my mind is that I've gotten this far--revisions x one million, agent, more revisions, submission, more revisions... and STILL I might not do it. I don't use the word fail--because damn, have I gotten better at writing and telling a story. And I have to keep reminding myself of that--it is about WRITING. It is not about publication--although this is the ultimate validation. It is not about seeing other people's books and stewing about how much better you are. You can't make it about that--because it will eat you up and kill you.
Luck. Timing. Talent. Luck. Fate. Timing. Luck. Luck. Luck. Luck.
I do believe, stupid as it may be, that if I keep at it I will succeed in publication--maybe not this book, but the next. Most of the time I am certain of this.
Great post, Allison. Ditto for the comments.
My confidence about my writing skills wavers like crazy, often in sync with rejection or requests for partials. But, what I can’t shake is the very certain notion that I will want to kick myself in the teeth if I ever give up on this writing thing.
great post never never never give up as Churchill said!
I agree with Lisa. I'm not going to my grave wishing I had tried to write a book. I'm going there knowing that I persued my dream whether it worked out or not.
>>and STILL I might not do it
Hang in there Anon!!! Personally I think it's tougher to be )( close than to get form rejections *sigh*
Allison, do you think you would have remained determined and kept writing if it had taken you much longer than it did? For instance, if it had taken you four books written and tucked into the bottom of a drawer at home before you found an agent and got published?
Thanks for all of these awesome comments, everyone. So great to hear other perspectives and tips.
Suzanne - thanks also for your recent blog comments! I meant to come back here yesterday and thank you. To answer this question, you know, yeah, I do. Breaking into freelancing, for example, didn't come easy for me. Yes, I got something right away, but then it took me a looooooong time to land something else big. And ditto the novel stuff. My first book wasn't published, my agent and I parted ways, etc - I think it would have been pretty easy to be discouraged, but I just kept going.
Having been here from the very beginning of this blog, I've known that Winn meant more than your last name!
I've been reading your blog for several months, but this is the first time I've been moved to comment!
Years ago, when I was feeling down about an overly critical boss, a colleague told me, "You can't control the outcome, only the effort you put in."
That's how I've approached my copywriting career, and it's how I've approached my fiction as well. Keeps the ego from getting too bruised -- and keeps me focused on honing my skills.
I'm like you, Allison. A born optimist, maybe. Thanks for a terrific post.
Amie, what is a CP?
This is such an inspiring post. I've been working so hard on my novel, but still can't find a literary agent who believes in it. In the meantime, I've completed my second novel, and am moving on to my third one now. I really believe that's the way to keep yourself afloat. We love to write, don't we? If not, why are we doing it? So, if you haven't hit the big time, keep doing what you love.
Great post, Allison. Thanks for motivating us. You're made of WINN ;)
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Anon...CP = Critique Partner. I found one on the eharlequin boards, one via my epublisher (she's my editor and my friend and we write for the same print publisher) and one because I judged a manuscript of hers in a contest years ago, tripped across her on the 'net and we got to talking. I really loved her writing and she was looking for a new CP.
Allison, thanks for the follow up. You probably know it took Debbie Macomber something like 7 or 9 books in the drawer before she ever got published. Great post!