THE THREE "P’s" OF GETTING PUBLISHED (Part Three)

Perseverance:

By definition perseverance is:

Steady persistence in adhering to a course of action, a belief, or a purpose: steadfastness

No matter how good a relationship you may think you have with an editor, you are bound to face rejection. All writers do. I haven’t heard of one who hasn’t. At least one who has been published more than once.

Konrad Adenauer, Father of Post WWII German said, "A thick skin is a gift from God". Writers need a thick skin!

Journalist Kathy Seligman once said "You can’t hit a home run unless you step up to the plate. You can’t catch a fish unless you put your line in the water. You can’t reach your goals if you don’t try."

I might ad, you will never achieve success if you don’t keep trying. So, if you receive a rejection think of it as a learning experience. Don’t take it personally.

Most editors aren’t rude. They are only over-worked. So, consider yourself blessed if you have an editor who offers reasons for their rejection. Look at it as an opportunity to grow and get better. If they liked your work, but say it isn’t right for their publication, send them something that is.



If they offer suggestions and say they want to see it again, consider their suggestions. You have a choice to either rewrite it and resubmit it, or if you don’t want to make the changes, sit the manuscript aside for awhile; then if you still don’t agree with their suggestions send it somewhere else.

Let your manuscript and the rejection letter you received age like wine. It could be wonderful, or it could go sour. Look at both again with an objective eye. An objective eye is without bias. There’s no room for a closed mind. Editors aren’t always right, but then, neither are writers.

Whether you rewrite it or decide not to, keep submitting it. After several rejections seriously consider what to do next. It may need a total rewrite or you may need to file it away for future reference.

There’s a verse, I don’t know who wrote it, but it’s been published in so many forms I feel safe sharing it:

Nothing in the world can take the place of persistence.

Talent will not; nothing is more common than unsuccessful men with

talent.

Genius will not; unrewarded genius is almost a proverb.

Education will not; the world is full of educated derelicts.

Persistence and determination alone are omnipotent.

　

More than once I’ve had the same story rejected six times before it was published. If I’d have quit after my first rejection I’d have never been able to say I’m a professional writer. And this year I am celebrating having over 200 stories published by the Dorchester Media Group and their predecessors. I’ve also had hundreds of articles in newspapers and other magazines.

Why?

Because I didn’t quit. And I’ll tell you something. I know writers who are as good or better than me who still aren’t published because they did.

When I started writing I hung rejections on the wall surrounding a sign "God Answers Prayer". My best friend suggested I try being more specific. She was right I not only needed to be more specific in my prayers, I also needed to study my markets and be more specific and target where I sent my stories.

However, I’ll share a secret, though it won’t be a secret long, I have also resubmitted the same story to a publication more than once and only changed the title. The difference was, they had a new editor, but if I hadn’t stayed on top of the market I wouldn’t have known that.

Don’t quit. Stick with it. Introduce yourself and your work to as many editors as you can. Send them your manuscripts when they ask for it. Go to writers conferences and meet as many editors as you can. Listen more than you speak, except when you’re asked to pitch your story. Above all, respect their time. I’ve been at more than one conference where an overzealous, presumptuous writer has met up with an editor and stuck to that editor as though they were Velcroed together. In the end, the only reputation those writers got were bad ones.

Some might ask, when do you know a story is so bad you should throw it away? My reply would be , "Never". You never know when that story might be just right for a new publication.

As technology observer Robert Gelber put it, "Never forget that the greatest idea at the wrong time is a loser. If you look at the ‘firsts’ that were really seconds, they had timing in their favor. As with real estate, it’s location, location, location, with ideas it’s timing, timing, timing."

I keep everything I wrote except a few things that disappeared because of a computer glitch. Though I may not send those stories out ever again, I may reuse a character I particularly liked in another story, or use the research I did for one story in a different story.

You will know when to stop sending the manuscript.

As with patience, they key to perseverance is keeping busy. Always have another story on the back burner that could just be the one that helps you break into a market.

　

In Summary:

Having the three "P’s" isn’t going to guarantee you’ll get published. Everyone knows it also takes a few words that start with other letters. However, I have seen some very good writers not get published because they lacked one of the "P’s". Unfortunately, they replaced one "P" with another. Instead of practice, they procrastinated; instead of being patient, they pestered the editor; instead of persevering after receiving a rejection they pitied themselves and let fear of receiving another keep them from trying again.

Arthur Rock, Venture Capitalist said: "You can walk up to people on the street and ask them if they want to be rich and 99% will tell you, ‘Sure I want to be rich.’ But are they willing to do what’s necessary to be successful? Not many are.

Are you willing to do what’s necessary to be published? Are you willing to Practice? Have Patience? And to Persevere through the rough stuff like rejection?

　

　

　

　

THE THREE "P’s" OF GETTING PUBLISHED (Part Two)

Patience:

The definition of patience is:  The capacity, quality, or fact of being patient



Sounds simple enough. Well, I can tell you there is nothing simple about it. Patience is not my strong suite. It is something I have to work very hard to do. But, please trust me, a writer needs to be patient.

Do you think you are ready to send your story to an editor? This is not a swift change of subject. It’s a legitimate question. For if you have not done your homework, all the patience in the world won’t achieve your objective of getting published.

For example, have you studied the market? Thank goodness the Internet makes this far easier than it used to be. I depend on www.Writersmarket.com and because I’m a member of Pennwriters, I often go to their site, www.Pennwriters.org

Next, have you queried the editor? You need to sell not only your story or article, but also yourself before you send your story. Yes, a few markets let you send the manuscript right to them, but many will return it unread if you haven’t approached them first with a query letter, and received a reply from them asking to see your story.

Assuming that has been done don’t wait on pins and needles to hear the fate of your masterpiece. Start multi-tasking. Yes, you heard right. Here’s some ways you can multi-task:

Work on your next story or stories.
Start research

Writer Franklin Adams once said, "I find a great part of the information I have was acquired by looking up something and finding something else on the way.

Write an outline
Interview people
Write, write, write
Study markets

I particularly like to spend time reading. I don’t know of any writer who doesn’t also read. However, I know some of the books I read may seem strange, but they do have a way of stimulating my brain cells. Unusual books like: A Kick in the Seat of the Pants By Roger von Oech or Leadership Secrets of Attila the Hun by Wess Roberts.

My husband and I have to spend a fair amount of time traveling since most of our children don’t live close to home. Often while we are away we purposely take side trips to find new and interesting places. Not just to see them. I’m also looking for places for my next plots.

Once my husband and I found there was no room for us to stay with our family at a special gathering. Instead of feeling negative about it, we decided to stay at a local B&B and the setting inspired an idea for a novel.

Visit family and friends, but while you are with them listen to their stories. You may be surprised what you find out once you get them talking. More than once I’ve had to change the name to protect the not so innocent, and the writer who told their story.

My friend once told me about a strange dream she had and by the next day I turned it into a story and promised to take her to lunch if it’s ever published. You’ll find it on Gather.com under my story Ultimate Survivor.

Observe people whenever you have a chance. At the mall, a restaurant or church. Watch people at work or play.

After all I’ve just written, did you forget the reason for all of it? If you did, that’s good. The purpose for all of it is to keep you from pacing a rut in your carpet waiting to hear whether your manuscript is accepted or not. At the same time, you’ve used your time wisely.

While you’re doing all those things, it wouldn’t hurt to pitch your next story idea. Write some query letters. If it’s fiction, the usual rule is have it written before you query an editor. For non-fiction, you can query them and give them an estimated time table for completion of the work.

At this point I want to add a few words of advice about building relationships with editors. Don’t suggest something you aren’t ready to write or might not be able to follow through to completion.

Follow guidelines on mailing or e-mailing your query letter and your manuscript. Don’t ever phone an editor unless you know them and they have told you it’s okay. It took me many years before an editor called and left their number on my answering machine. Relationships like that are not built over night. So don’t be presumptuous. Yes, you may know your novel is the greatest thing written since Gone With the Wind and will sell more copies than the Bible and the Farmers Almanac combined, but the editor will never know that if you become a mosquito in his or her ear. Your relationship will be just as dead as that insect and probably just as fast.

As I said, I have worked many years to develop a relationship with some of my editors. In almost twenty years I have only phoned one of them once without being asked. I try my best to respect their busy schedules. After all, part of that schedule is reading my work.

However, there is a point of unreasonable patience. The markets I write for most often do tend to keep stories quite a long time. The fact that I’ve been told I have my own slush pile, that is the pile of stories that have yet to be read, does not change the fact that a story needs to stay in circulation. If it’s lost in a slush pile it isn’t getting published.

My usual policy was to wait two years then resubmit my store elsewhere, but unfortunately that policy had to be revived when the same story was wanted by both editors. I now have stared e-mailing editors after they have had a story for a prolonged period of time. Especially when I hear of a market looking for something that might be a good fit for my story. This seems to be working, and on more than one occasion has caused the first editor to purchase the story rather than give it up.

Just know your editors before you get too bold. And that brings me to the next, and final P in my three P’s.

THE THREE “P’s” OF GETTING PUBLISHED With Writing Exercises (Part One)

What do the following have in common?

Tiger Woods - Golfer
Michelangelo - Artist
Samuel Clemens - Writer
Pittsburgh Steelers - Super Bowl Winners

If you answered: they all had/have to practice to achieve greatness, you were correct.

So, what so the next four things have in common?

1. A mother/father
2. A teacher
3. A winemaker
4. A corrections officer

I hope you answered: they all need patience to do what they do.

Now, one more time, what do the following have in common?

1. Mark Inglis - Climbed Mt. Everest
2. Red Sox - World Series Winners
3. Dave Hallum - Champion Sprint Kart Racer
4. Audie Murphy - WWII Hero & Actor

They answer I’m looking for is that they all had to persevere to achieve. If you wonder who some of these are, or why I chose them, just do a search on the Internet. You’ll find out why I choose them.

These are the basis for the class I teach, and the article I’m writing, on The Three P’s of Getting Published.

Practice:

By definition practice means:

1. To do or perform habitually or customarily; make a habit of
2. To do or perform something repeatedly in order to acquire a polish or skill.

Whoever said "Practice makes perfect", may not have been a writer, but their words fit the life of a writer. Sure we write because we love it. But we need to practice our craft all the more if we are to improve enough to get published. So, if that is your goal, I hope what I write here will help you achieve that goal.

I have many exercises one can use to practice writing. You might want to try some of them. They are not only good exercises, but they give you a variety of writing experience.

　

Of course, one way is the obvious one: you can write the same story or article over and over. It can get tiresome, but it’s what a writer often has to do. Especially if they face rejection in one market and need to rewrite the story for a different market that might want it from a different slant.

Another interesting way to experiment with the same story is to write it from different perspectives. You may write a story about a woman who is married to an alcoholic husband. Then, write it again from the husband’s perspective. Perhaps he wants desperately to save his marriage, but his demons are just too difficult to fight. Now, what about writing the story from the perspective of one of their children. Of course, this is just one example.

Writing exercise: Imagine a traffic jam on a major highway.

Write:
A fictional piece in first person
A fictional piece in third person
As though writing for a newspaper or magazine
With humor
With frustration
Another way to practice is to write about things that touch your emotions. In fact, I have no doubt to the fact that there are certain emotions that drive a writer to start writing faster than others. I personally find that when I am upset, I am driven to express myself on paper. Often no one ever sees what I write, but I find it therapeutic.

Of course, we’re not talking about therapeutic writing, we are talking about getting published. And once you are published, you want to continue to be published. To do that you have to make your readers feel. You must touch their emotions. Emotions like anger, fear, sadness and joy.

A person can be sobbing or laughing as they read a story. What you don’t want is for a story to leave them stone cold and emotionless.

I’d be plagiarizing if I used the excerpts I read when I teach this as a class. Of course, I shouldn’t have to. Most writers are also readers. However, next time you read, make a conscious effort to think about the parts that touch you in some special way.

Another form of practice is stretching yourself when you write. I mean to go beyond your comfort zone. It helps if you enjoy observing people, seeing those little things that make them stand out, or make them different.

Of course, it’s easy to write about a character modeled after someone you like. Now, try it with someone who irritates you in mind. Try getting into their shoes and write as though you are that person, doing whatever it is that irritates you most about them. I’m not talking only writing a humor piece where you exploit that person. I’m talking about a story that gives them heart, and perhaps explains their peculiar idiosyncracies.

Take time to do research so that you know as much about the person you hope to write about as you can. This is true even if the person is fictional. There still may be some things you need to know or understand about that person. Perhaps they grew up working in their family restaurant. Find out what that is like before you write about it.

Sometimes it also helps if you interview the person you are going to write about in your story. Yes, even when that person is inside your head. The best way to bring a figment of your imagination to life is to talk to them. Though, I suggest you do in when you are alone. This is especially helpful when writing a novel, because there are so many pages to fill with little tidbits about that person.

As I said, challenge yourself. There are so many ways, I won’t even try to list them all here.

When Life Gets in the Way

It seems appropriate that I should write about what a writer should do when life gets in the way of their current writing project. I'm away from home, spending time with family. Unfortunately, we are not on vacation, nor even just planning a July 4^th picnic. Instead we are watching my husband's beloved mother slip away from us.

Not only is life in limbo; but also writing. This has happened on other occasions; after September 11, 2011, Hurricane Katrina, and more personally following the death of my father, and several surgeries. Some of those didn't surprise me. The one that did was the last. After all, I had planned on getting done while recuperating.

I beat myself up a bit when I found myself unable to concentrate. Words just didn't find their way to the page. Fortunately I spoke to several other writers who have experienced the same thing. It seems one just can't plan how the brain will react to certain things, among them trauma, grief, and even anaesthesia.

Since my title implies that I know what to do when life gets in the way, I guess I should tell you. The answer may surprise you. – Do nothing. At least nothing that you feel you have to force yourself to do. So, put that project aside for a little while.

My advice – which is just what works for me – is to begin keeping a journal, expressing your feelings about what is happening around you. Express your thoughts, feelings, doubts, anything that comes to mind.

After 9-1-1 many publishers flat out said they were not going to accept anything that had to do with the events that happened that tragic day. Later after I was back to writing, I took my notes from my journal and was able to write several stories. By waiting the emotions of the day had lessened ever so slightly. The result was that the stories were published.

Some of the stories were specifically about that day. Others were tweaked and turned into other stories about something entirely different. However, the emotions were real and touched the lives of my editors, and hopefully, my readers.

Sometimes you just can't fight it. Whether you call it "Writer's Block," or just life getting in the way, write; only write about it. Life is, after all, a huge part of everything story you tell.