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Kevin Lucia, one of five new bloggers at Relief, continues his first blog series on the path to publication.  Writing is tough, if you’re really committed. There’s a distinction between those who “like to write” and those who are hardcore writers. There are writers out there of all kinds: The former “like” to occasionally jot down their thoughts here and there, but when push comes to shove, writing isn’t a priority in their daily schedule (Notice I said ‘A’ priority, not ‘The’ priority. We’ll get to that later).
The later are those who write and type to the brink of carpel-tunnel destruction, whose eyes twitch from computer screen over-exposure, get cranky when they don’t write, and write into the wee hours of the morning. There are writers out there of all kinds, but I’m sure every one would tell you: writing seriously consumes serious energy and requires fierce dedication.
Author Robert Liparulo offers a great example. When asked how he finally found the time to write his breakout novel, Comes A Horseman, he answered that with a family and a full schedule, he began waking every day at 4 AM so he could have quiet time to write before everyone else woke up.
The willingness to write into the wee hours of the morning isn’t the only thing that separates the writers from the hopefuls; patience is another qualifying factor. With the exception of a few, it takes awhile to get published. Some writers wait years before publication; some see it never. Others spend years in non-writing careers (such as Andrew Gross, who managed sports retail businesses before The Blue Zone) before publication. Everyone has to do their time and take some lumps. It’s said that even J.K. Rowling was rejected by Penguin/Putnam, among scores of others, before Scholastic took on Harry Potter.
This waiting period, fraught with rejection letters and repeated “No thank yous” from editors, serves a purpose (despite being frustrating): it gives writers time to refine their craft. It also separates those who were meant to be published writers, from those who really want to be published writers. As painfully true as it is, just because someone loves writing doesn’t mean they’re meant to write for publication. Writing is something everyone can enjoy, but statistically – and unfortunately – not everyone is meant to be published.
Of course, technology has changed society radically, and the writing/publishing world hasn’t remained unaffected. With the advent of Print On Demand technologies, scores of independent small press publishers and self-publishers have opened shop on the Internet. Now almost anyone, regardless of talent, can pay a fairly reasonable “package fee” or “pay per copy” to have a book “published”.
I won’t spend a lot of time on this, except to make the following statement: self-publishing itself is not ultimately foolish or a waste of money. Everyone needs to make a decision about what’s right for them, and there are many projects with niche audiences that self-publishing is suited for. However, bottom line: POD/vanity/self-publishers who promise that you can have your novel published “now, why wait?” and get all the ensuing fame are at the very least not telling the whole truth, at the very worst, lying.
Many have wasted time and resources until they discovered they’d either made a mistake trying to manufacture writing success or, worse yet, they weren’t meant to be writers at all, while someone took advantage of their dreams. The most unfortunate cases are folks whose natural talent and inexperience are taken advantage of. I myself have missed several traps, by the thinnest of margins. Popular detective fiction author John Laurence Robinson’s first novel was an unfortunate victim of such a “publisher,” but he recovered and continued to publish several fine novels, (When A Skylark Falls, To Skin A Cat, & Until the Last Dog Dies), through River Oak Press.
A good example of patience is the experience of another popular suspense/thriller author, T.L. Hines. Before Waking Lazarus was a Library Journal Suspense/Thriller of the Year choice, it languished in a drawer with three other completed manuscripts. Over the course of several years, Hines garnered almost 181 rejections from a variety of publishers and agents.
Considering his rejections many lessons learned, Hines stopped sending out Lazarus and worked on other projects, until Bethany House acquisitions editor Dave Long came across a sample of Waking Lazarus on Hines’ blog, downloaded it, and asked for more. At that point, Hines had become simply content with one thing: writing for the enjoyment and development of his craft. His third novel, Unseen, will be hitting store shelves soon.
To recap :
1. First and foremost, you need patience.
2. Check back next week for point two…
Kevin Lucia is currently seeking an MA in Creative Writing from Binghamton University, is a born-again Christian who teaches 9-10th grade English and acts as a freelance columnist for The Press & Sun Bulletin. If you can’t get enough of Kevin here at Relief, you can find him at kevinlucia.net, as well as on MySpace and ShoutLife.
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