Be true to yourself
There are so many negative influences out there that can discourage and break down a writer. Each writer must come to a point where you tune those influences out. This usually happens after enough writing experience to know you've got a handle on what you're doing.
"The club" of publishers/agents/editors that runs the traditional publishing industry would have you think you are only as good as they say you are. Yet how many of us have picked up (and not necessarily on the bookshelf at Borders or B&N) a great read only to find that the read wasn't born via the birth canal of the NY publishing machine but by some country midwife?
Podgirl http://girlondemand.blogspot.com/spends her free time ( which isn't very much ) reading thousands of these midwife-birthed books and has shown over and over again that there are some great authors and stories out there that don't come via a NY HOUSE.
* see todays entry on her site -- awesome, informative and fascinating *
These authors that opt for "midwife birthing" of their books, have most likely decided they've had enough of the club telling them they can't do this or that because someone who read their query or synopsis or three chapters or even entire novel also happened to be premenstrual that day, or just broke up with their significant other, or their boss has given them a list of what the HOUSE is and isn't looking for. Or, heaven forbid, just graduated from college and is on an internship with a list of instructions on how to write/send a rejection letter.
I admire these folks that go out on their own, blaze new trails and remain true to their creative womb. We are what we are, and even as writers, carry a certain genetic makeup.
To those blazing new trails in the publishing market, I cheer your efforts. To those giving birth the traditional way: that works, obviously. Here's to hoping each of us finds our way.
"The club" of publishers/agents/editors that runs the traditional publishing industry would have you think you are only as good as they say you are. Yet how many of us have picked up (and not necessarily on the bookshelf at Borders or B&N) a great read only to find that the read wasn't born via the birth canal of the NY publishing machine but by some country midwife?
Podgirl http://girlondemand.blogspot.com/spends her free time ( which isn't very much ) reading thousands of these midwife-birthed books and has shown over and over again that there are some great authors and stories out there that don't come via a NY HOUSE.
* see todays entry on her site -- awesome, informative and fascinating *
These authors that opt for "midwife birthing" of their books, have most likely decided they've had enough of the club telling them they can't do this or that because someone who read their query or synopsis or three chapters or even entire novel also happened to be premenstrual that day, or just broke up with their significant other, or their boss has given them a list of what the HOUSE is and isn't looking for. Or, heaven forbid, just graduated from college and is on an internship with a list of instructions on how to write/send a rejection letter.
I admire these folks that go out on their own, blaze new trails and remain true to their creative womb. We are what we are, and even as writers, carry a certain genetic makeup.
To those blazing new trails in the publishing market, I cheer your efforts. To those giving birth the traditional way: that works, obviously. Here's to hoping each of us finds our way.