Sometimes It's Not You, It's Them

By Jewel Leann Williams

Statement heard in local American Night Writers Association chapter meeting (paraphrased):

“I’ve written a book, I pitched it, and it was accepted by XYZ publishing house. The editor had big plans, and then strangely rolled everything back and rejected it. I’ve been completely revising it and turning it into a completely different book. I guess my story didn’t have much to offer anyone.”

Let me tell you about the book this author is speaking of.  It is an inspirational memoir about her daughter and their experiences through a leukemia scare. 

I haven’t read the story, and I don’t know if it needs revision for the usual things we all have to revise, revise, revise in our stories. But one thing I can tell you, and I did tell her, is this:

OF COURSE YOUR STORY HAS SOMETHING TO OFFER!!

As a mom, I don’t have to have a child with leukemia to be inspired by another mother’s journey in that space.  I have other trials with my children and can gain insight and inspiration from what she went through.

Sometimes, it’s not YOU, it’s THEM.

Editors, publishers, agents are people. What’s worse, BUSINESS people. They have goals, agendas, business models—and each of them has a different one.  There are as many reasons for a rejection as there are rejections. 

I get it. I had a book I worked super hard on. I’d finished it, pitched it, got a “pages request” and sent it to not just the agent requesting, but every agent I could research who might be interested.  I thought it was ready, and it was rejected (a lot). It is one of the hardest things for me to pick that back up and work on it. But it’s a worthwhile project. The story is still, well, awesome, it has a great voice (says more than one of the rejectors), it just needs work. It doesn’t need the whole thing changed—just lots of polish. But man! It is HARD to put more blood, sweat, and tears into that project when my hopes had been so high, and then been smashed like a clam on a rock.

Mid nineteenth-century depiction of Josephine fainting after being told by Napoleon he will decree a divorce (to seek a male heir and royal alliance) Artist: Bosselman - Chasselat Public Domain in US (Public Domain in source country before 1996; past 75 years from artist's death)

But hear me now and believe me later (bonus if you know that reference):

Just because your book was rejected, does not mean that you need to change it into something different. What you need to do is:

1. Consider the source and the content of the rejection. Sometimes it’s more about timing, marketing, and publishing trends than it is about the story itself.  Did you pitch a self-help book to an agent who only represents fiction? Or to an agent with a full list of authors in your genre?
2. Realize that much of what is accepted and rejected depends on personal taste.  An agent or editor has to believe in your book to properly represent it. The publishing world is highly competitive for agents as well. Sometimes it just isn’t something that strikes their fancy, but there will be someone else out there who won’t be able to resist what you’re offering.
3. Did you query too soon?  This was where my eager little self went wrong. I finished a book, loved it, and like an ugly baby with a doting mother, I thought it was beautiful and perfect.  Beautiful it is, but perfect—not by far. I should have gone through some real edits, beta readers, more edits, etc. and polished it more.  Make sure that what you are presenting is the best you can make it, and that you have had feedback and critiques to help you polish your product.
4. PRAY about the feedback you receive. You have every right to ask for guidance. Don’t change things because some cranky editor who doesn’t like family stories or things that mention God or books with a happy ending (or a sad one, or one with puppies… etc. ad nauseum). Take the criticism, turn it over in your hands, consider it, and pray about it. You’ll know what needs to happen.

Here’s the thing.  I want you to remember this above all else.

Heavenly Father gave YOU the talent and desire to write. He has a purpose for blessing/cursing you with the need to express yourself with words.

He gave you that talent to bless His children.

You may not think that what you have to offer is anything special. But if you wrote it with the inspiration of our Heavenly Father, then you can rest assured that it is special and it does have something to offer the world. As such, you also need to include him in polishing your book, because just as He can transform people, He can guide you to transform your words into what He would have them be.

He will let you know what needs to happen, whether it is not to change a thing, to edit, to rework the whole thing, or to set it aside in a folder marked “Things I Wrote to Hone My Craft.” Or any myriad of other things. You just have to ask the Guy Who Really Knows.

Just remember—

Sometimes, it’s really not you, it’s them. 

A Thought on Pain

- a post by Jeanna Mason Stay

My six-month-old baby loves the outdoors. He can be wailing like the world will end, but when the hubby takes him outside, he sucks in a deep breath, stares around him, startled, and calms down.* This is the case even when it’s ridiculously cold, cold enough that I don’t want to go outside at all. It’s too uncomfortable. This made me wonder: Does he not register the same things as painful and uncomfortable as I do?  It seems like the experience of cold is still novel to him, something interesting and unique and beautiful instead of something to be avoided at all costs.

I’m an unmedicated birth advocate,** and so I’ve thought a lot about how we see pain. When I look at the pain of childbirth, I think of it much the same way I hear runners talk about marathons—painful and difficult, but eminently worth it. Runners can come out of the experience feeling amazing, even if they’re pathetically sore, out of breath, exhausted. In a lot of ways it’s the meaning we attach to the experience that determines how we come out of it.

Which brings me to the subject of writing. For most writers seeking publication, there is a lot of rejection, pain, growth, difficulty. A couple months ago I got a rejection letter I’m still reeling from a little; the other rejections haven’t hurt the way this one did—and that has been partially because of the meaning I attached to it.***

But I’m thinking that maybe I—and the rest of us—can try to learn to take it the way my baby does. To him, it just adds to his life experience; the cold is just input, something to learn from and enjoy for its sheer novelty. Granted, rejection isn’t going to be a rare occurrence for most of us, but I think maybe we can learn to appreciate it as part of the process—painful and difficult, but eminently worth it.

* Well, most of the time.
** Yes, I think it’s awesome and a great way to go. No, I’m not going to look down at anyone else for doing something different.

*** But let’s skip the therapy session for today and just say ouch.

The FUN Part!

We spend a lot of time as writers talking about the hard stuff--learning your craft, honing your craft, editing, writing drafts, querying, writing query letters, wait, I had a point here.

Oh, yes! The FUN parts of writing.

It's different with every writer, really, but here are the two parts of writing that I love.

One, the first draft. Where you're meeting your characters for the first time, throwing them into tough situations and finding out what they're made of. Great fun, great stuff. I can do it in a month if I push myself. And I have.

My other favorite part of writing is still relatively new--seeing my work in print. It's like magic. It gives you a feeling you've never had before, even if you've published before. Every book is new and each experience is sweet.

I'm sitting, at this moment, on the cusp of that second experience. The Tyrant King is being formatted for printing/e-books. Literally tingling in anticipation of the magic. For those of you who don't know (or don't remember lol), this has been a while in coming.

I submitted my manuscript to the publisher of my first book last year. They sent it back requesting changes. No big, they did that with my first one. The changes took me longer than I'd planned, but I eventually sent it back to them. And waited. Though I harbored some doubt, I was reasonably confident they would publish me a second time.

Boy, was I wrong.

On the anniversary of the day The Peasant Queen was ACCEPTED, The Tyrant King was REJECTED. By then, I'd listened to my doubts enough that I'd determined to self publish it. To that end, I hired an editor and got the wheels turning for the cover art and lined up my friend to help with formatting and typesetting.

Still, the rejection hurt. It was hard to take, even though I had an alternative plan and was already moving forward with it. After several months, I can say now that I'm glad they rejected TTK because it's SOOO much better after being taken apart by a seasoned editor.

In just a few weeks, I'm going to be doing the new book dance with my hubby and kids. It's those moments that help make all the hard work worth it.

It Stings

by Cheri Chesley

Wednesday night, I went to bed feeling pretty much on top of the world. I'd made so much progress on The Wild Queen, and the publisher had The Tyrant King. All I had to do was write, edit and submit The Lost Princess and my first book series would be complete.

Then I got up Thursday morning and checked my email.

My editor wrote me. While she likes the story, she feels there are too many things wrong with it at this point to move ahead with publishing. She'd gladly look at it again if I address these issues and resubmit. This isn't a rejection, really. It's a "we saw some issues you may want to fix" notice.

It still stings. But it didn't really come as a surprise.

I let myself get caught up in my schedule for this year, and didn't take the time to hear back from my beta readers before sending it off to the publisher. I like the story a lot--the problem is I knew it wasn't perfect. I just figured it would be "good enough."

Yeah, I know. Kind of ironic since one of my Goodreads reviews bashes my publisher as the "only publisher in Utah who will publish anything." Not. :)

This is not the end of the road. It's a setback, clearly, and will mean some restructuring--not only of the story, but also of my schedule. Some things will have to be changed. Some things will have to be put off. Some things will have to be given up.

First things first: I'm finishing my edits on The Wild Queen this week and getting it to my newest beta reader. While she's looking it over, I'm going to work on fixing The Tyrant King.

Don't count me out, yet. :)