Calling it Quits?

I was watching The Voice last night (LOVE that show) and one of the contestants was there as his fiancé had given him an ultimatum to either make something of his singing or go get his law degree (*). The deadline is the end of this year. And this got me thinking…

At what point do you give up on your dream?

Personally I couldn’t grasp the concept of a partner not supporting a dream completely. Maybe I’m spoiled. My husband has never once given me a deadline to make this writing dream a reality, has never thrown the statistics in my face (only 1% of aspiring writers ‘make it’), has never told me to stop trying, so I can’t imagine not having his support in this venture.

Yes, we need to put food on the table and a roof over our heads, and no, rejections and failed auditions don’t pay the bills. But surely that’s no reason to stop chasing those pavements. We just have to do it ‘around’ our lives. We write or sing outside of our work hours, or when the kids are asleep, or between classes. It may not be the most direct route, or the fastest, but it doesn’t mean we won’t get there.

How many knock backs do we endure? And does it matter how long it takes?

So many of the contestants on The Voice say it’s their ‘last chance’ to make it, which I find so terribly sad. And it makes me think of three authors; one just starting and two very famous.

The first is my friend Jenn J Mcleod whose debut novel was released last month and is doing well. She tells how she gave herself a deadline of a certain important birthday (I won’t say which), and that if she hadn’t signed with an agent by then, she’d give up. She got “the call” the day before her birthday! But what if she hadn’t? What if that call was a month late? Or what if that agent was the next one on the list to query and it didn’t happen before her birthday? What would have become of “The House for all Seasons” then?

The second is Kathryn Stockett of “The Help” fame. She endured 60 rejections before agent 61 accepted her. And as she points out, what if she’d ‘given up after 15 rejections? Or 60?’

And the third is Mary Ann Shaffer, who wrote “Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society”. She was in her seventies when her novel got picked up. And while she didn’t live to see it published, she died knowing it was going to be; knowing she had achieved her dream.

Don’t ever let anyone else force you to give up your dream. Even if you have to take the longest, most convoluted path to get there. Don’t ever say it’s your last chance. How do you know the next agent you query, or the next audition you go to, isn’t going to be “the one”?  It doesn’t matter how many rejections you get. It only takes one ‘yes’.

As long we breathe, there’s hope. And in the case of Mary Ann Shaffer, even after.

NEVER give up chasing those pavements.

S
* edit - The contestant mentioned above has clarified that there was no ultimatum and the producers cut the story to make it appear that way. No reality in reality TV - go figure! So sorry to said contestant, but the question of when to give up is still one worth pondering.

Roller Coaster Capers

I think as a community of writers we need to come up with a better description than “roller coaster” when describing our journey, as roller coaster just doesn’t seem to cut it! The ups, downs, curves and twists are bigger, faster, slowere and stranger than any roller coaster I’ve been on. And I’ve done Space Mountain at Disneyland!

Last month was one heck of a ride on this ‘journey to publication or insanity’ (insanity seems to be winning at this point). I received a full request from an agent in New York (big deal for a writer from OZ); the original full request from London was finally passed on after a 3 month wait (cue tears); a phone call from said NY agent who had full saying she liked it but there were problems and can I revise and re-submit (exciting and scary at same time); a rejection from another agent who said I was nowhere near ready for publication and suggested I go find myself a writers’ group to join (ouch!); another full request from another NY agent (smiling again); and a partial request from one of the big agencies in NY who I didn’t think I had a chance with (yay!).

And all of that in the space of two weeks. The same two week period which also happens to coincide with my birthday and the worst day of the year on my calendar – my angel baby’s birthday! Although, the upside to that is at least while dealing with the personal sadness that is that time of year, it certainly keeps this book thing in perspective.

I’ve also been trying to get a handle on this social media thing, which I’m pretty sure I’m failing at, but I’m giving it a try at least; been slogging away at my new WIP in order to distract myself from the turmoil of the query process; and have been trying to find ever more creative ways to fend off questions from my book when they continue to ask why I haven’t read the month’s selection (this month - a book agented by ouch-agent above! – not kidding), as most of my book club don’t know I’m writing so I can’t really say to them that I feel if I have time to read, then I should be writing.

Can you believe I don’t drink?

And now the wait. Wait to see what the outstanding full and partial bring; wait for my reader (aka sister) to get back to me on the revised version so I can re-sub to that agent; and wait to see if the other handful of outstanding queries result in rejection, requests or suggestions I shouldn’t give up my day job!

And I still don’t drink!

Perhaps you can all help me while away the time and come up with alternatives to “roller coaster” and leave them in the comments section? Prize - my undying gratitude to anyone who makes me laugh.

S

keep chasing those pavements

current status: 2 fulls out, 1 partial out, and a frightening number of rejections in :)