A Writer's Journey

There is no greater agony than bearing an untold story inside you.

Maya Angelou

Music expresses that which cannot be said and on which it is impossible to be silent.

Victor Hugo

Monday, April 18, 2011

N and O = NO

And again it's time to string two letters together to make today's post. The word that every writer dreads to hear, the one that strikes fear into our polished manuscripts' hearts...

NO.



The writing process is hard. Hundreds of hours spent on honing craft, on wielding pen against pages of paper (or keyboard against white space of MS Word LOL), on rewriting and revising and repolishing until our energy has all been spent.



Then the dreaded querying process starts and the nail biting begins.



And then the news comes. The big...fat...



I haven't started querying yet, but the picture above looms in my nightmares, threatening to come true. LOL It would be SO MUCH easier if we just got these...



Responses like the one above would most definitely be so much easier, but I think that the word "no" can either bring you down or make you stronger. I think a person's individual reaction can speak volumes about how they choose to let the word affect their lives. "NO" can just be the beginning of a beautiful relationship with change and progress. *is trying to be an optimist*

What are some of your experiences with the word "no" and how did you handle them?

Blurbed by Ani at 3:15 AM
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6 comments:

  1. UnknownApril 18, 2011 at 5:35 AM

    I definitely know what that's like. I'm in the querying process at the moment, but have also just started a new WIP... so I can see all the work I've still got left (I hate the NO).

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  2. Lori M. LeeApril 18, 2011 at 7:05 AM

    I made the fatal mistake of querying too early. After raking in the rejections, I stopped and realized 1. my query SUCKS; 2. my book sucks too ;_;

    So I rewrote and rewrote and got CPs and now, I think I'm closer to being ready than I've ever been. It's scary, and a single 'no' has the ability to ruin your entire day until you stop moping and muster up your optimism again.

    Don't worry about any of that yet though :D Finish your book and make it awesome, b/c I know you can!

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  3. AniApril 18, 2011 at 10:36 AM

    @Cheree Oh yay for starting the new WIP! ::fanfare::

    @Lori Dude, you're like there. I'd pay to read your shit. Seriously. And yes, the "no" does have that stupid ability. *le sigh* I'm much more of a pessimist than an optimist anyway. And your last comment is why, my dear, you are a fantabulous CP. *needs help out of my vortex of suckery*hides*cries*looks for Faelun*

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  4. JeighApril 18, 2011 at 6:55 PM

    I'm scared to death of querying. I'm going to need a gentle nudge (aka hard shove) to get there, I think :)

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  5. Corinne OApril 18, 2011 at 7:43 PM

    I tend to take NO as far as writing goes to mean, "this is not ready yet". That way it is not so much about me as my work. It is not easy to hear anyone tell you know when you're trying to share your book-baby, but if you're going to try to break into print old school, then you need to be ready to deal with NO.

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  6. Karen M. PetersonApril 18, 2011 at 11:10 PM

    I haven't gotten to the querying stage yet, either, but I'm with you. Rejection is scary!

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