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I always enjoy reading articles like "'Fight for what you believe in': How best-selling authors battled rejection", since it's inspirational on two levels: The obvious one, but also as a reminder of how many great authors waded through dozens of rejections before finally publishing. Though this also puts me in mind of another writing truth - sometimes getting published isn't always a good idea.
I don't mean the advice of "Maybe your book isn't ready to be published", but "Maybe this isn't the right place for you". For example, an agent or editor might recognize that you have a great piece of literature, but it doesn't work for them, so how well do you think they're going to handle it in that case? I'm sure that a lot of those legendary rejections came from people who didn't recognize the quality of the work, but I suspect a great many of them may have simply been by people who knew that it wasn't a good fit.
In that case the rejections were a good thing for all of us in the long run. Because then those books may never have ultimately found their way into our hands.
Anyway, no profound conclusions here, just something I was pondering about on my way to the latest progress report.
PROGRESS REPORT FOR 8/21/13
New Words: 1400 on chapter 2 ("The Winnowing, 1874") of Copper Heart. Kate goes to Tombstone plotting revenge against some outlaws, and is met by a fellow named Wyatt Earp, who is assisting his brother Virgil, the city marshal, in telling Kate and her companions that guns aren't allowed in the town proper.
Total Words: 80,100.
Reason For Stopping: Getting late and I got tired of ignoring my growling supper-ready belly.
Book Year: 1881, just a few weeks before the Shootout at the OK Corral. I don't feature the actual gunfight in the book, but I do have Kate as the catalyst for a fictional precursor to that fight.
Mammalian Assistance: None.
Exercise: Walked with Laurie and the dogs around campus.
Stimulants: None.
Today's Opening Passage(s): Just before the Dreamer died, Lieutenant Riley Beckett of the San Carlos reservation received a strange request from Kate, telling him a plan he thought incredibly unwise. But he knew Kate well enough to know nothing would dissuade her, so he sent her back a short letter agreeing to her request and sending her a warning about traveling in Cochise County, the heart of Arizona’s Apache warfare, since it seemed likely that there would be an uprising stemming from Cibecue soon.
He’d hardly posted the letter before the news came that the Dreamer was dead, and every day more Apache were fleeing San Carlos. Geronimo and many of the chiefs were leading them, taking them into the mountains through hidden paths the army couldn’t manage to follow. Kate’s plan to go to Tombstone suddenly got a lot more unwise, even with Carlos Alvarez, Roberto Kicking Horse, and Rock Marrak coming along.
Darling Du Jour: Not really a Darling, but it was fun to write...
She also didn’t anticipate the six-foot, broad-shouldered, muscular, and admittedly incredibly handsome man in his early thirties who strolled out in front of her and took her horse’s bridle as casually as if the animal was his own. She looked for a badge and found none.
But there wasn’t a threatening speck about him. Nor was there any trace of the odor of alcohol. Instead he smiled faintly, tipped his hat, and said, “There’s a new ordinance in town, ma’am. No guns allowed. You and your companions will need to check your weapons at a saloon or a livery stable.”
Kate returned a friendly smile. “And you are, sir?”
He let go of the bridle. “Wyatt Earp, ma’am. My brother Virgil is the city marshal and the Deputy U.S. marshal—”
“He must be busy.”
“He is that, which is why I’m here. I’m his assistant at need. He’s generally an even-tempered fellow, but this is not a rule you want to test him with. If you like, I’ll see to your guns myself.”
Non-Research / Review Books In Progress: N.K. Jemisin; Larry McMurtry; Wish You Well by David Baldacci.
I don't mean the advice of "Maybe your book isn't ready to be published", but "Maybe this isn't the right place for you". For example, an agent or editor might recognize that you have a great piece of literature, but it doesn't work for them, so how well do you think they're going to handle it in that case? I'm sure that a lot of those legendary rejections came from people who didn't recognize the quality of the work, but I suspect a great many of them may have simply been by people who knew that it wasn't a good fit.
In that case the rejections were a good thing for all of us in the long run. Because then those books may never have ultimately found their way into our hands.
Anyway, no profound conclusions here, just something I was pondering about on my way to the latest progress report.
New Words: 1400 on chapter 2 ("The Winnowing, 1874") of Copper Heart. Kate goes to Tombstone plotting revenge against some outlaws, and is met by a fellow named Wyatt Earp, who is assisting his brother Virgil, the city marshal, in telling Kate and her companions that guns aren't allowed in the town proper.
Total Words: 80,100.
Reason For Stopping: Getting late and I got tired of ignoring my growling supper-ready belly.
Book Year: 1881, just a few weeks before the Shootout at the OK Corral. I don't feature the actual gunfight in the book, but I do have Kate as the catalyst for a fictional precursor to that fight.
Mammalian Assistance: None.
Exercise: Walked with Laurie and the dogs around campus.
Stimulants: None.
Today's Opening Passage(s): Just before the Dreamer died, Lieutenant Riley Beckett of the San Carlos reservation received a strange request from Kate, telling him a plan he thought incredibly unwise. But he knew Kate well enough to know nothing would dissuade her, so he sent her back a short letter agreeing to her request and sending her a warning about traveling in Cochise County, the heart of Arizona’s Apache warfare, since it seemed likely that there would be an uprising stemming from Cibecue soon.
He’d hardly posted the letter before the news came that the Dreamer was dead, and every day more Apache were fleeing San Carlos. Geronimo and many of the chiefs were leading them, taking them into the mountains through hidden paths the army couldn’t manage to follow. Kate’s plan to go to Tombstone suddenly got a lot more unwise, even with Carlos Alvarez, Roberto Kicking Horse, and Rock Marrak coming along.
Darling Du Jour: Not really a Darling, but it was fun to write...
She also didn’t anticipate the six-foot, broad-shouldered, muscular, and admittedly incredibly handsome man in his early thirties who strolled out in front of her and took her horse’s bridle as casually as if the animal was his own. She looked for a badge and found none.
But there wasn’t a threatening speck about him. Nor was there any trace of the odor of alcohol. Instead he smiled faintly, tipped his hat, and said, “There’s a new ordinance in town, ma’am. No guns allowed. You and your companions will need to check your weapons at a saloon or a livery stable.”
Kate returned a friendly smile. “And you are, sir?”
He let go of the bridle. “Wyatt Earp, ma’am. My brother Virgil is the city marshal and the Deputy U.S. marshal—”
“He must be busy.”
“He is that, which is why I’m here. I’m his assistant at need. He’s generally an even-tempered fellow, but this is not a rule you want to test him with. If you like, I’ll see to your guns myself.”
Non-Research / Review Books In Progress: N.K. Jemisin; Larry McMurtry; Wish You Well by David Baldacci.
