I’ve had two glasses of wine, so this post is going to be short and not all together coherent.
Friday night lights is over for the week. God, I love that show. I love that almost every time they show the coach’s wife, she has her newborn sleeping on her. (so true to life) I love that they’ve focused in more on Tim Riggins this year. All the better to get that female, 18-65 demographic and the way the coach furrows his brow almost all the time. The dead body storyline, well the show has earned my trust. I’ll follow them almost anywhere.
But this post is not about our collective Drunk Writer’s obsession with Friday Night Lights, or that Razor( a sort of spin off Battlestar Gallactica movie is supposed to air Nov 24th and oh, does it look amazing), nope, been thinking about Maureen’s post, and publishing and choices and most of all persistence.
I think a lot of writers feel left out in the cold. (remember now, two glasses of wine, which at this point in my life, make me seriously tipsy) they’re banging on doors and getting rejected, or worse, completely ignored.
It’s stupid hard to take a rejection and smile through it, worse still, go on to write the next book. Sometimes we just want to hear yes, something I completely understand.
And the one phrase that keeps coming up(I know, I’ve used it) is write a better book. Which I do agree with. Everyone, published, aspiring, and anyone in between, we need to get better with each book. So sure, but if writing a better book was the only answer, than Judith Ivory would be so much bigger than she is, Connie Brockway’s historicals would have been bestsellers, and Laura Kinsale would own at least three publishing houses.
Sometimes a better book isn’t enough. You need luck and timing as well. Two things that increase exponentially with the number of books completed and queries on the market.
So what kind of a drunk writer post is this. The truest kind, where the writer is maybe a little drunk. But hey, write the best book you can, because really, the next book might be the one.
I love wine.
5 comments:
Oh my God - Friday Night Lights was amazing last night. When Mom hit snotty but wounded teenage daughter -- oh! Connie Britton is killing me this year - just killing me. And Riggins going to Lyla's room and getting kicked out -- delicious. Every plot line is fantastic - the only weak thing was Jason Street's plan to go to Mexico but then they put RIggins in the car so now it's exciting again!
I love drunk Sinead - I really do -- you're so right. It's about writing the better book AND THEN it's about magic. It's about your book coming out at the right time when readers are just dying for a book like the one you've written. It's about it being slightly bigger than real life - more encompassing than real life but fully grounded. I don't know...I've finished the Elizabteh Hoyt trilogy and they're great. They really are - incredilby well written, fantastic characters and hotter than your average historical - but are they better than Ivory? No. But they are somehow bigger than Ivory's books. That makes no sense - I should have some wine.
Loved your post, Sinead. Wishing I could join you in a wine right now (unfortunately I'm 33 weeks preggers, so no chances of that happening!). I honestly believe luck has something to do with this whole publishing biz. Sure, you have to have a great story, great writing, etc... but I think you also need some luck to hit the market/agent/editor at the right time. As we know, publishing moves at a glacial pace, so what is being bought now won't show up on our shelves until a long way into the future - which means if people are writing similar to what's on the shelves now, they could have missed the boat as that market may already be saturated. Also, who's to know the agent you queried last week just received a call from an editor saying "I need an XYZ book" and you just happened to query her with that exact book?
There's a whole lotta stars that need to aline to get that publishing deal - but it happens. It happens every day. I'm just hoping my day comes sooner rather than later!
Alli, I have a baby, so I know what it is to have to completely abstain and my heart goes out to you.. Wine will be in your future very soon, as will sleeplessness, but that is a whole something other..:)
Yep, luck is a big part. I know, I've read some amazing unpublished novels and scratched my head wondering why some editor didn't leap on them, but that's where the luck applies.
All we can be is persistent. Easier said then done.
Molly, love Friday Night Lights, and Connie Britton and Riggins(a little too much) and Matt Saracen. That hour goes way too quickly.
And seriously, we have to sit and figure out why those Ward books are so delicious. I'm not sure I still have my finger on it.
But it's like a disease spreading through the critique group.
Stephanie Doyle - who is also utterly addicted says it's "man angst" Ward writes good "man angst" and it's so true.
SINEAD! I love this post.
And guess what I read on my trip? Dark Lover. Man that was a fast addictive read. Not 100% sure why, either, but the man angst is a good theory. My theory? They have sex on every tenth page. Doesn't hurt. (and of course, I'm exaggerating. It's every 15th page.)
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