I’ve been writing since I was old enough to tape pieces of paper together and call it a book, which means I’ve talked to a lot of people about writing. And while I’ve definitely gotten some questionable writing advice (that could be a whole other post), here’s some advice that’s really resonated with me:
“You live differently when you’re on submission.”
A professor in my MFA program said this. I can’t remember if the class was about revision or flash fiction, but this professor in particular talked about the professional side of writing, like querying and submitting short fiction to literary magazines. The point she was making here was that you can write and revise and create beautiful work, but when you put your work out into the world, you live with a certain amount of hope and expectation.
And that hope and expectation can be hard. It’s a lot easier to shield yourself from disappointment by never putting your work out there. But being a professional writer means dealing with rejections and dashed hopes for the possibility of that one ‘yes,’ that one reader who really gets what you’re trying to do. The hope is what keeps you motivated.
“You will keep getting rejections.”
This one came from Jane Yolen, who was both wonderfully prolific and deeply grounded about having a career as a writer. She was a speaker at one of my first NESCBWI conferences and mentioned that, not only did she still get rejections, but she had received another one that very morning. It didn’t matter that she’d previously written children’s literature classics for multiple age ranges, like The Devil’s Arithmetic and Owl Moon. She wanted everyone to know that this was normal and it was just part of the job.
It can sound very deflating–you’re going to work so hard and finally, even when you think you’ve gained enough success, you’re still going to get rejected?! But Yolen wanted to ensure writers that rejections weren’t necessarily a sign that your writing was bad or that you’d never get published or that you should give up. It was only a sign that you needed to keep submitting, keep revising, keep writing, and keep going.
“Don’t have rituals.”
This was from the same professor who encouraged us to have work out in the world. She encouraged us not to be too precious about our writing experience. It didn’t all have to happen at the same desk, with the right music playing and the exact temperature of tea you wanted and the perfect snack and no emails in your inbox. You could have things that helped, but she suggested not leaning too hard on anything to make the writing happen.
This has been especially helpful for me throughout my writing career as I’ve written in less than ideal conditions–before work, during my lunch break, after putting the kids to bed, in 15-minute sprints while my toddler is watching Daniel Tiger. While things like listening to specific writing playlists certainly help my process, I’ve mostly benefitted from being less precious about the specifics around how I write.
“The first chapter teaches your reader how to read the story.”
I got this from a friend in my critique group back when I was in my MFA program. We were at a local restaurant for their usual $5 food specials and sharing feedback on each other’s submissions. I can’t remember how the conversation started, but one member said that the first chapter should teach your reader what they need to read the rest of the story. Anything that happens in that first chapter should set up things the reader might need later. It doesn’t need to include every single bit of necessary information and world-building, but it should give us the guide as to how the rest of the book should be interpreted.
I’ve thought about that a lot, especially when I’m either drafting those early chapters or revising them later. How does my character see the world? What’s important to them? Who are the other characters who need to show up early? What questions do they have about their place in the world? What else would a reader need to start to piece together this universe? It’s a really helpful way to focus those early pages.
“You’re not a full-time employee.”
This sounds weird up front but it came from a time when I had a deadline but was also in a busy period of my day job and getting sick. I was talking to a fellow writer friend (also with a non-writing day job) about how I wasn’t sure how I was going to hit my deadline with everything else going on. She told me very simply that I could ask for an extension. I wasn’t a full-time employee of the publisher and if they needed me to be available all the time, they needed to pay me like one.
That absolutely reframed how I think about trying to balance writing and the rest of my life. Writers are paid more like freelance consultants, with advances and royalties instead of a salary. But it’s also easy to feel pressure to be available and responsive all the time, even when deadlines are crunched. The truth is that publishing is a business and, even if you feel really fortunate to get to do this work, you’re also still part of a workforce and deserve to make professional requests that meet your needs.
Fortunately, my friend’s advice helped inspire me to ask for an extension (only a week or two) and my editor was completely fine with it! If I hadn’t had that conversation, I’d have stressed myself out to submit my revision by the original deadline for no good reason.
“If you still in the industry long enough, everything in publishing will happen.”
This one came from a fellow writer at a retreat years ago. They shared this piece of advice having been a few books deep into the industry and, from their own experiences and the experiences of several other writers they knew, they’d seen people hit bestseller lists, get books cancelled, lose their editors, get disappointing sales, get movie deals, hit regional lists and get awards, and more.
In writing and publishing, it’s never all good news or all bad news. Sometimes your book hits at exactly the right time and gets big, but that doesn’t preclude you from losing your agent who decides to go into a different field. Good things will happen and bad things will happen and boring things will happen. Like Jane Yolen’s advice, the best thing you can do is know that nothing is forever and the only thing you can focus on is your own writing.
What good advice have you gotten about writing and publishing? Want to hear some bad publishing takes I’ve heard? Share in the comments!