Do You Believe?
Posted by Gina Black on 26 Nov 2007 | Tagged as: Chit Chat, Writing Life
Recently, I had a an email conversation with a writer friend. She was discouraged because, even though she’d had some success with contests and landed an agent, after years of writing she still hadn’t sold. In a response to another friend’s congratulations on a contest final, she wrote: it’s hard to keep believing “this will be the one.”
I wasn’t functioning on all cylinders (which means just one cup of tea at that point), but I fired back a post before I could even think, because I felt she was doing herself a grave injustice. This is what I said:
What does *believing* have to do with it? I think there’s been so much emphasis on positive thinking in past years that the forest has got lost for the trees. Where positive thinking matters is that it keeps us working toward a goal. Believing that we can control things we can’t is crazy. The only thing you could control here was entering the contest. You finaled (w00t w00t) and now it’s completely out of your hands. What you do have is exposure and opportunity. Will it lead to anything? Who knows. but you can ride it for what it’s worth (like going to the conference which is GREAT). Will believing it will lead to something change the outcome? I sure don’t think so. Still, we have a mutual friend who sold her book based on a contest win, so the possibility must be acknowledged.
In many ways publishing (and life) is like throwing seeds into the wind. We can hope they’ll land somewhere and take root. But we can’t control that. We can only provide the opportunity. We can only keep going. The only way we can control things is to stop. And that isn’t an option for me, or for you.
To that, I would add now, that we get better at throwing those seeds. We learn how to gauge the wind. We find a hose and water–or learn how to do a rain dance. We do all we can and then trust the soil to nourish them and the sun to make them grow.
And then we go plant another garden. Happy writing!
Gina,
Excellent post. Too often we are fed the line that if we want it bad enough we can have it. But so many writers don’t stop to acknowledge there are certain things they control and others they can not. Most of the time finding an editor or agent who ‘gets’ you is so unpredictable it’s more good luck and perserverance than positive thinking. It’s being in the right place at the right time and being prepared for the opportunity. Now that’s what we can control–taking advantage of opportunities and growing as a writer so when the break comes, we can take advantage of it.
I think what I’m trying to say in a long-winded way is control what we can–growing as writers and perservering.
Linda
November 26th, 2007 at 10:10 amAbsolutely-you can’t control everything, but you can work at the bit that matters-the writing so that when everything aligns you are ready to shine.
November 26th, 2007 at 1:01 pmLinda and Kate,
Thanks for commenting! As an inveterate control-freak it has been a hard lesson for me, but that’s it. It’s important to learn what we can control and what we can’t, and to stay positive!
Gina
November 26th, 2007 at 5:08 pmOddly, I was thinking about something similar today. It is how we all want to be published, and there are a ton of good writers out there, but it takes being in the “right spot” at the right time when an editor decides they want your story.
November 26th, 2007 at 9:33 pmI totally agree. It can be so frustrating but you just have to focus on the one thing you can control - your writing. Great post Gina!
November 27th, 2007 at 5:15 amYes, I agree with everything you all have said. It took me twelve years to get published. There were a lot of rejections, a lot of discouragement, so much to learn. I tried to give up once, couldn’t do it, finally decided that I was more miserable not writing than getting rejected. There is no certainty of success — ever — in this business! Writing a book doesn’t mean you will sell it. Winning a contest doesn’t mean you’ll sell your book (I won the first contest I ever entered and it still took twelve years to sell a book.) Selling one book doesn’t mean you’ll sell two. And so on. We don’t all get publsihed, we don’t all make the best seller lists, we don’t all become household names. If you love to write, you write. You strive to improve your craft, study the market, then hope for luck. That’s all any of us can do.
November 28th, 2007 at 4:10 pmPatti–as they say, timing is everything! But it isn’t one of those things we can control, so making sure we’re ready for our closeups whenever they happen is a good plan.
Kim–thanks.
Gail–yes, all we can do is get better, but that’s key!
November 28th, 2007 at 5:10 pm