Twenty Years of Writing: The Stats by Caroline Starr Rose

See this? It's a rejection from my editor Stacey, written in 2008! She didn't buy a book from me until 2013.

I first started writing the summer of 1998. Back then, I was a teacher on break with three months stretching before me. After years of dreaming, I decided it was finally time to dig in and try to write a book.

For eleven years I wrote, submitting my four novels and six picture books almost exclusively to editors.* This was back in the snail mail querying age. Remember the anticipation you experienced as a child waiting for birthday presents to arrive in the mail? That was me for about a decade.

In spring 2009, I won a contest at a local writing conference. At the last minute, I’d decided to send in my middle-grade historical novel-in-verse. It was my best work, but I wasn’t sure how it would be received alongside pieces meant for the adult market.**  My prize included a one-on-one with an editor who specialized in fantasy, sci-fi, and women’s fiction, a world apart from my writing. She took one look at my manuscript and asked, “Why don’t you have an agent yet?”

Part of my very high-tech submission records and some artwork from my son.

That’s when I started subbing to agents in earnest, sending three to five queries at a time. By May, I'd gotten my first full request. In June I got two more. In July another two. In September, yet another two.

By October, I’d had ten agents request fulls and two ask for partials. One agent liked my story, but felt some significant changes were necessary. I thought through her suggestions but took things in another direction, coming up with an entirely new, stronger ending. In the days I spent revising, two more agents requested fulls, bringing my total to twelve. I contacted the first agent, telling her I’d made changes to the story, though not along the lines she’d suggested. If she was still interested, I told her, I’d be happy to send it, but I also wanted her to know two more agents were reading the newer version. She graciously told me she’d love to see the story if the other two agents passed. One did. One didn’t.

Writing stats from 1998 to 2010, when I signed with my first agent:

10 manuscripts (4 novels, 6 picture books)
211 rejections from editors (2 fulls and 1 partial requested)
12 contests/grants (1 win)
75 rejections from agents (12 fulls and 2 partials requested)

With my first agent I sold two books, May B. (novel #4, which subbed to eleven editors and had 3 offers. It  was orphaned when Random House closed Tricycle Press.  The book was days from its ARC printing. Six weeks later, it was picked up by another Random House imprint, Schwartz and Wade, and went through three more rounds of edits), and Over in the Wetlands (picture book #5, which sold to Schwartz and Wade with zero rejections). After reworking several manuscripts, I officially retired most of them and drafted my verse novel, Blue Birds.

In 2013, I was on the hunt again for an agent. I submitted to three agencies and got two offers. I've been with Tracey Adams of Adams Literary ever since.

Writing stats for the last five years:

7.5 manuscripts (1.5 novels, 6 picture books -- 3 of these manuscripts have been officially retired)
5 sales (3 novels, 2 picture books...the second picture book I hope to be able announce soon-ish!)
2 anthology pieces, including an overhauled chapter from novel #2...the one Stacey rejected in 2008!
3 grants / 2 contests (with no wins)
55 rejections

Some thoughts

You could look at these numbers and get pretty discouraged. 14 years to see a book on the shelf? Regular rejection with 7 books sold? I can look at these numbers -- even knowing things worked out in the end -- and feel the same. I know plenty of people with a shorter apprenticeship. I've got lots of friends far more prolific. All sorts of authors I debuted with in 2012 have published far more than I have. Here's the thing: Your process is yours. Your journey is yours. Each book finds its way on its own.

Two truths kept me going before I sold my first book (and aren't bad to remember now):

• I have something unique to say (even when I'm not sure what that is).
• My work can only improve if I keep at it.

Rejection continues to be a part of the process. That's just how it goes.

The writing life (and the publication process) is a long-road, long-view, long-term journey. There's no other way to look at it.

So, my friends, if you are on this journey, too, take heart. There is no right way. There's no quick fix. There is no easy road. There is a fair dose of frustration and disappointment. But there is joy and satisfaction, too.

Here's to all the good work ahead. Here's to the next twenty years.



*Because an agent isn’t a necessity in the children's market (but is a REALLY GOOD IDEA), I figured submitting to an agent was an extra, unnecessary step. Perhaps not my smartest move, but it also was not detrimental, as my writing wasn't yet ready for a sale or representation. These were my apprenticeship years.

**I also wasn't sure if anyone would understand what I was trying to do with this verse thing. A few months before I had submitted the first ten pages to an editor at a children's conference. She clearly was unfamiliar with the form and thought it was a rather mature picture book that was missing its ending!

Are you seldom disappointed or do you hold to wild hope? by Caroline Starr Rose

My writing space. Isn't it cozy?

A few years ago I recorded a podcast with author Tsh Oxenreider. As we talked about submissions and rejection, Tsh mentioned the idea of “it’s just business, it’s not personal” not being an entirely helpful or true way to look at the writing life, at least in her experience. “It’s business and it’s personal” is more accurate, she said. It’s personal because not only has she invested in what she’s created, a piece of writing grows out of who she is.

This is absolutely spot on in my experience, too. An author has hope for her work, wild hope that it will connect with an agent or an editor who believes in it as she does. That wild hope must also run through the writing itself. The creative act cannot hold back. It cannot be guarded or careful or tame. For me, both writing and the writing life must be all in.

Being all in has its risks. There is the possibility of rejection. (Not just the possibility. In this line of work the reality of rejection is always present.) There is the possibility that even books that sell won’t go the way you hoped or planned. Elizabeth Gilbert says “creativity asks you to enter into realms of uncertain outcome.”

Your job is to create. You don’t get to decide the rest.

Uncertain outcomes mean sometimes you’ll be hugely disappointed. It’s important to let yourself acknowledge this, to let yourself grieve the work that didn’t have the future you’d hoped. This is hard and painful and so disappointing. But I rather do this than not hope at all.

Recently a friend told me she’d read Tony Hillerman’s memoir, Seldom Disappointed. The quote comes from something his mother told him: Blessed are those who expect little; they are seldom disappointed. He carried this idea into his writing life, a place he had huge success.

It’s interesting that just days after this conversation I started re-reading Anne of Green Gables and in it found Mrs. Hillerman’s advice, almost word for word, this time in the voice of Mrs. Rachel Lynde.

It’s Anne’s response to Rachel’s words that I prefer:

“You set your heart too much on things, Anne,” said Marilla with a sigh. “I’m afraid there’ll be a great many disappointments in store for you through life.” 

“Oh, Marilla, looking forward to things is half the pleasure of them,” exclaimed Anne. “You mayn’t get the things themselves; but nothing can prevent you from having the fun of looking forward to them. Mrs. Lynde says, ‘Blessed are they who expect nothing for they shall not be disappointed.’ But I think it would be worse to expect nothing than to be disappointed.”

I'd rather be disappointed than lose hope. This mindset isn't an easy one, I know. I just turned in a new project that I'm trying to hold loosely, whatever the answer may be. But at the same time, I hold out hope that it's exactly what my editor wants from me. If I hold back hope, I hold back heart, the very thing my writing needs.

A Continuation on Rejection Letters, by Hilary Wagner

These are my REAL rejection letters from 2009-2010.

Just last week, Kell Andrews did a great post on rejection letters. Below are some of the general responses she received. 

Thank you for your submission
Thank you for your patience
No reflection on your work
No reflection on you
I don't feel passionate
I don't feel connected
Not a fit at this time
Not a fit for my list
Sorry for the delay
Sorry for the news
Sorry

As some of you have read in previous posts, I too was rejected so many times I'd be rich if they were counted in dollars. Here are a few of my rejections to add on to Kell's list. 

I don't believe in anthropomorphic animals.
Too many characters.
Too gritty.
I hate rats.

I think the funniest rejection letter was the one I received from an agency about 6 months after my first book was published and in stores. That one made me laugh out loud.... BEST. REJECTION. EVER! 

That said, along the way, I did get one very special rejection from an agent at a well-known children's agency. She rejected the manuscript after reading the whole thing, but gave me the most amazing insight and really pointed out some issues I couldn't see from where I sat in the author's chair. 

Every once in a while you get lucky with an agent who rejects you, but gives you valuable feedback. Her advice made me change some major items in the manuscript. Did this lead to it getting picked up by another agency? I think so. The thing that got me the most, was this agent, who owed me absolutely nothing and could have easily have given me one of those generic rejections, took the time to really help me. That's rare and it's special and even though you might receive 100 generic rejections, you're bound to receive one or two that are really helping hands, so take advantage. 

After I signed my contract, I emailed this agent to let her know and to thank her. She was very happy to hear about it and her exact words were, "I knew there was something there!" 

And yes, I did mail her a copy of the book! 

KEEP MOVING FORWARD! 

Hilary

Why My Rejection List Is Not Long Enough, by Kell Andrews

I showed my 12-year-old daughter my rejection folder. I was trying to encourage her as she tried out for the seventh-grade volleyball team for the first time, and she was afraid she wouldn't make the team. We scrolled through the email folder —hundreds of messages.

Thank you for your submission
Thank you for your patience
No reflection on your work
No reflection on you
I don't feel passionate
I don't feel connected
Not a fit at this time
Not a fit for my list
Sorry for the delay
Sorry for the news
Sorry

In the not-long-ago Old Days, writers kept files of paper rejections, scrawled and typed and stuffed in SASES. Sometimes they burned them. Sometimes they wallpapered rooms with them.

I keep my email rejections in a file. I have so many that when I select the "move to folder" option for any email, my email program helpfully suggests the Rejections folder.

And these are only the responses I've actually received. There's no way to keep the no-responses rejections, except in the spreadsheet I use to track them. Except in how it feels to have the hope of a submission just fade away with no word, over and over. But I keep submitting, over and over.

When my daughter saw my rejection folder, she was sad for me.

"Sorry," she said, the word that was in just about every message in the file. The list seemed endless, but really it just went back to 2008.

"I'm not sorry," I said. "I wish the list were longer. I wish there were more. I wish I started earlier."

My rejection list will only get longer because I'm still writing and still submitting. No matter how successful a writer is, rejections keep coming, although they may be farther apart and they may be about different things.

It's been 11 years since I decided to really try to achieve this writing dream I'd always had, nine since I submitted my work. I've sold some books and stories along the way, but I wish my rejection list were 10 years longer, or 20.

My daughter did not make the volleyball team. Hers is a story of rejection so far, the first of many that are inevitable. I hope there are triumphs mixed in. There will be.

Because she has started.

HANDLING REJECTION by James Mihaley

You may believe that your chances of selling your MG novel to a publisher are contingent upon how well you tell a story.  You may be convinced that seeing your book on the shelves at Barnes & Noble will only come about if you create unforgettable characters.  You may have been told one hundred times that the originality of your voice will determine the destiny of your novel.  All this may indeed be true.  However, there is another factor that is just as important and is often overlooked.  That is your ability to handle rejection and not give up.

Nowhere is this more true than in the arduous process of finding an agent.
Every year, from Maine to California, thousands of writers give up the hope of finding an agent after receiving one or two rejections.  These writers have dedicated years of their lives and made innumerable sacrifices in order to complete a novel which they then  abandon after a couple of agents pass on the book. Please keep this in mind:

IF ONE OR TWO AGENTS REJECT YOUR NOVEL IT MEANS ABSOLUTELY NOTHING!

If twelve agents reject your manuscript, that's a different story.  If they all say the same thing, for example, that the story takes too long to get going, then it is your best interest to heed their advice and revise the book.

Tragically, many writers are so devastated by  rejection, they tuck the manuscript in the closet.  There it will sit for years or forever.
 Do not let this happen to you.
If you know in your heart that your book has merit and other people whose opinions you respect have told you the same thing, then keep on submitting it to agents.

If you have a manuscript in the closet, it is speaking to you right now.
Heed the muffled cries of a manuscript buried under three cardigans and a powder blue scarf.  Here is what your book is saying.  "Let me out.  Let me out.  I know I'm good enough.  Have faith in me.  I have the power to inspire children.  I'm ten times better than that other crap that's out there. I'm amazing.  Ok, Maybe I'm not perfect.  Maybe I run a bit long.  Maybe I'm overweight by twenty or thirty pages.  You can trim that flab around my tummy.
I'm not afraid to do literary sit-ups.  Come on.  Let's work together!"
Listen to your manuscript.  Have faith in the wisdom of the words.

A Conversation with Rejection by Linda Williams Jackson

Me: Hi, Rejection! Welcome to Project Middle Grade Mayhem! (I think….)

Rejection: Thanks, Linda! I’m VERY happy to be here. I’ve known many of you Mayhemmers for a long time. (Howdy, Caroline Starr Rose!) As a matter of fact, Linda, you and I go waaaay back.

Me: Hold up…. Let’s get something straight. Yes, we’ve known each other for a long time, since the early 1990’s, tbh. But that doesn’t mean we go way back. Going waaaay back, in my opinion, denotes a certain level of friendliness. And you, Mr. Rejection, are no friend of mine.

Rejection: Oh, touchy, aren’t you?

Me: You should know. You’ve made me cry a few times, haven’t you?

Rejection: A few times? Girl, please. I made you cry a whole lotta times.

Me: And now you’re bragging about it?!?!

Rejection: Not bragging. Just stating the facts. Here’s the deal, sweetheart. My job is to make people better, more specifically for the purpose of this conversation, to make you guys better writers.

Me (under my breath): Do you have to be so ruthless about it?

Rejection: I heard that. And the answer is yes. I can’t let you guys off easily. No pain, no gain, baby. I mean, would you have ever written Midnight Without a Moon if I had let you get that little funeral home story published?

Me: Hey, don’t make fun of my funeral home story. I love that story!

Rejection (under his breath): Obviously, you queried it for five and a half years.

Me: I heard that.

Rejection: Good! I’m glad you heard it. I hope you learned something from all that pain I put you through. Otherwise, my time has been wasted.

Me: Oh, I learned plenty. Thank you very much.

Rejection: Such as?

Me: Don’t get stuck on one project, no matter how much you love it. And regardless of how many agents have requested the full and provided positive feedback, or how many pitch contests the project has won, I should have been seriously writing more projects and querying them.

Rejection: But you did write more manuscripts. I remember doing my magic to make sure those were under my spell too. You didn’t get anywhere with them.

Me: I know. But I realized I had gotten to the point where I wanted an agent more than anything else in the world. My focus was all wrong. I was writing to get a “yes” instead of writing to tell a story that I felt like people needed to hear, or read, rather.

Rejection (smiling broadly): Awww. I feel like a proud papa. That’s exactly what I was hoping to accomplish by putting you through the wringer the way I did.

Me (rolling eyes)

Rejection: What else did you learn?

Me: Humility.

Rejection (clapping): Bravo! Another score for Rejection! I really know how to knock the pride out of you guys!

Me (under my breath): And the wind too.

Rejection (laughing): Sorry about that.

Me: Sure you are.

Rejection: Remember that time I made you break down and cry right in front of your computer? I mean, that rejection stung so hard that you hadn’t even finished reading the email before you started bawling.

Me: But, I survived.

Rejection: Yes, you did. You were a real trooper…simply unstoppable.

Me: Well, I don’t know about unstoppable. I think I was ready to quit. If you hadn’t stopped coming at me in 2015, I might have given up.

Rejection: Wait! What?!?! You mean I was THAT close to breaking you?

Me: Yep. You sure were.

Rejection (slaps forehead): Aw, man! One more year, huh?

Me: Yep. That’s what I was giving myself.

Rejection: You’re saying that now, Linda. But as I recall, you said that every year. “Just one more year. If I don’t make it this time, I’m quitting.”

Me (chuckling): I did say that, didn’t I?

Rejection: Yep. Every year. Actually, you said it after every full request, too. You said, “If this one isn’t ‘the one,’ then I’m done.” Then I’d show up. Then you’d cry. Then you’d go listen to some inspirational song or read some inspirational post. Then you’d be right back at it the next day.

Me: I was pretty stubborn, huh?

Rejection: No, honey. You were resilient. (Gestures around the Mayhem blog) You all were. I tried to break you guys, but you just kept going. You were all so determined.

Me: Why, Rejection? Why do you put people through all this? I know you said to make us better writers and to make us humble, but why make it so hard? Don’t you trust that we’ll improve our skills and appreciate our success without so much pain?

Rejection: You read The Last Lecture by Randy Pausch, right?

Me: I did.

Rejection: Remember what he said about brick walls?

Me (Googling): He said, “The brick walls are there for a reason. The brick walls are not there to keep us out. The brick walls are there to give us a chance to show how badly we want something. Because the brick walls are there to stop the people who don’t want it badly enough.”

Rejection (wiping tears from his eyes): I’m sorry I hurt you so badly, Linda. I’m sorry I hurt all you guys, Mayhemmers. But do you now understand why I did it? You guys wanted this badly enough to take everything that I threw at you. You were unstoppable. And I am very proud of you. But please know that my job is never completely done. You will still face rejection. But I know you will persevere. All of you, because you are winners.

Me: Thank you, Rejection, not just for being here with us at Project Middle Grade Mayhem today, but for being present with us during our writing journey. Thank you for showing up when we needed you even though we didn’t want you there. You were like a helicopter parent who knows what’s best for her kid even when the kid doesn’t realize it at the time. You made us better writers. And because you humbled us, we don’t mind helping others along the way. No offense, but you are both hated and loved at the same time.

Rejection: No offense taken, my dear. I’m just happy to do my job. Now I must leave you guys. I have some dreams to try to crush. Good bye.

Me: So long, Rejection. I’m not looking forward to seeing you again any time soon.

One-Star Reviews! by Joy McCullough

A few weeks ago, a friend was smarting from some editor responses to her MG novel on submission. One said it was heavy-handed. Another said the pacing was slow. I’ve read this book. It’s absolutely beautiful.

To cheer her up, I went looking for 1-star reviews of books I know she loves. Here’s what I found. (I've only edited for profanity.)

Newbery Medal Winner BECAUSE OF WINN-DIXIE:

It is too jumbled premiss. If someone recommends this book SAY NO!!!

What a poorly written piece of crap.

Worst book ever written, I wish I could give it 0 stars!!

Newbery Medal Winner THE ONE AND ONLY IVAN:

Clearly the most ill-deserved of newberies.

It's the stupidest thing ever.

I am not sure how this twaddle gained so many 5 star ratings! The choppy writing was tedious to read & frankly uninspiring.

Newbery Medal Winner WALK TWO MOONS:

I shan't dignify this flaming turd with a review.

would rate it zero stars if i could. STUPID BOOK

SO contrived that I couldn't bear to keep reading.

But there’s a difference between a random Goodreads reviewers and a big-time editor or agent, you say? Not really. I mean, sure in the influence they wield. But editors and agents are just people, and their views are just as subjective as any reader who picks up a book and loathes it with the fire of a thousand suns. Or LOVES it with the same fire.

I know my friend will find the editor who LOVES her book. But in the meantime, I looked up some more widely acclaimed books, to see what some readers had to say.

National Book Award Winner THE PENDERWICKS:

To put it simply, this book was awful and twee.

The result was something that any high schooler, or even middle schooler, with a reasonable amount of talent for writing could have written.

Newbery Medal Winner WHEN YOU REACH ME:

This book stinks !! It's so confusing !

If only Rebecca Stead had stopped 50 pgs earlier - I would just have called this book terrible, bizarre, and a waist of my time

It was just a poor book with a poor subject, poor writing, poor characters, and poor everything.

Newbery Medal Winner CHARLOTTE’S WEB (16,000-1 stars)

Yeah, he's 'some pig!' Well that 'some pig' is going to get old. This is a farm. They don't waste things. Sorry. They just can't. He's still on the chopping blocking. He will still be made into sausages. They are not going to let him die and bury him in the pet graveyard.

Newbery Medal Winner: FROM THE MIXED-UP FILES OF MRS. BASIL E. FRANKWEILER

Dear Lord, this book is bad.

Dull, dull, dull!

I found it pretentious and dull. Also, Mrs. Frankweiler is a grump.

This might be the most boring and confusing and boring and boring book ever written. Find a different book. Did I mention it was boring?

HARRIET THE SPY

i litterally hated this book SO MUCH that i UGHGHGHDHFGHDSFAIH anyway...... i read it each night because i had to for book club... but after like 2 NIGHTS i got SO FED UP WITH it that I STARTED SCREAMING i RIPPED IT UP IN LITTERAL RAGE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! AND I MADE IT INTO A SOUP AND FED IT TO MY STUFFED ANIMALS

Newbery Medal Winner: HOLES

LET ME START OFF BY SAYING THAT I ABSOLUTELY HATED EVERY PAGE OF THIS BOOK THAT I READ.

I guess it was okay…for an elementary school reader.

I hate this piece of [expletive]. I hate Louis Sachar. Anarchist [expletive]. This book has no soul.

AAAAAAAARRRRRRRRRGGGGGGGGG!!!!!!!! The most over-read book in history!

Hugo Award Winner CORALINE

The writing reflects laziness on both the editor and author's part. The story sounds too much like something that came from a 6th grade classroom, and the writing isn't much better.

THIS monstrosity failed the able-to-read test on every one of my levels.

Newbery Medal Winner PRINCESS ACADEMY

I couldn't get around the unseemly and awkward phrasing, so bad I couldn't enjoy the story. My impression is that the author is not well-read; her word-usage is just slightly off.

Ugh Just Ugh. It was so dumb. I don't like it at all, and I'm dreading the next one.

Newbery Medal Winner A WRINKLE IN TIME (with an impressive16,000 1-star reviews):

The story takes about 100 pages of tedious, banal dialogue, to get to the point where you are told that this is a battle against Evil, and all you need is love. But everything is so oversimplified, so sketchy

the book appears to have been written by someone that has never actually met a real human being before.

Why it remains in print is beyond me.

This book was utterly crap…Pretty cringe-worthy IMO.

In my opinion, this is all a little much for a children's story.

And that final quote about A WRINKLE IN TIME is kind of perfect, really. Because Madeleine L’Engle herself said, “If the book will be too difficult for grown-ups, then you write it for children.”

So that reader who felt it was “a little too much for a children’s story” wasn’t young enough to get it. It wasn’t their fault. They weren’t the right reader for the story.

If you’re struggling with rejections at any stage, I recommend looking up the 1-star reviews of books you love. (It only works with books you love; if you despise A WRINKLE IN TIME too, you’ll only feel self-righteous agreement when reading the 1-star reviews.)

To find them, look up a book in Goodreads. Scroll down to where it says Community Reviews. Hover over Filter and you should see the following:

Then select where it says 1-star!

It Only Takes One Yes...or Does It? By Joy McCullough-Carranza

So there’s a lovely bit of encouragement that gets repeated when people are giving writerly pep talks to those on the road to publication. It goes a little like this: “It only takes one yes!”

Pep talkers will say this to people who’ve sent 290 queries (as I did): “It only takes one agent to connect with your manuscript and LOVE it!!”

They will say this to people who’ve had multiple manuscripts go on submission without selling (as mine have): “It only takes one editor to connect with your manuscript and LOVE it!!”

The implication is that it could happen any moment! Maybe right this very second, while you’re reading this blog post, that elusive agent or editor is reading and loving your manuscript. It’s totally possible!!

It is. I don’t take issue with hope. It’s why I write middle grade.

But the idea that “It only takes one yes” breaks down upon further inspection. It’s not always false when it comes to agents. Often, an agent can read a manuscript, decide they love it, and make an offer. But sometimes an agent has an intern or a reader who goes through their queries first. So in that case, it requires the intern’s yes AND the agent’s yes. Sometimes an agent must get the agency’s approval to offer representation. So there might be someone else (or even a couple other people) who must say yes.

But the real place where this platitude irks me is on the submission level. “It only takes one yes” is almost never true in this situation. I have one friend whose editor made the offer late on a Friday night – she was head of the imprint, and after she read, she called the agent immediately to make her offer. Even then, though, it was to say she would be making an offer. She still had to run the numbers by finance to make the actual offer.

But a far more common situation is the editor who loves a manuscript, and then must get it through both an editorial meeting AND an acquisitions meeting. Often editor colleagues read the manuscript, and it will be discussed at the editorial meeting amongst the editors, with the editorial director or publisher also weighing in. If it gets through that group of people, it goes to acquisitions, where departments like sales, marketing, publicity, and finance must also weigh in. If it’s a middle grade book, the school and library departments will also have input. Different publishing houses may have additional hoops, like Scholastic has a stage at which the book clubs department must weigh in.

I don’t mean to be discouraging. But I don’t think hollow platitudes are super useful along the writing journey, because when a writer invariably discovers these things are false, the disappointment is that much more frustrating.

My agent, who tends toward the positive (and thank goodness, for he balances me out), had this to say about the various stages it take to get to an offer:

In some ways, it feels like a series of obstacles to run through, but in other cases, it can become a series of opportunities—Sales doesn’t think it will do well in trade, but then School and Library will think they have a great shot with it.

So I’m going to do my best to think about it as a series of opportunities. And if you’re playing the waiting game, remember that it may take more than one yes, but there’s every chance your manuscript is currently making its way through the various obstacles (opportunities! sorry!) like a (super slo-mo) pinball on its way to the high score.

Takeaways from Elizabeth Gilbert's BIG MAGIC and my favorite books on craft by Joanna Roddy

I'm forever reading books from other writers about the craft of writing. Writing is solitary in many ways. I'm always looking for coyotes of the borderlands to show my wandering writer's soul the way into the land of plenty. 

This spring I read Elizabeth Gilbert's BIG MAGIC. I never read EAT, PRAY, LOVE, but I fell utterly in love with Gilbert's TED talk on creative genius, in which she argues for the classical idea of the muse. She says that the modern concept of artistic genius is too much pressure and is silently killing off our artists through addiction, self-destruction, and despair. She offers instead the ancient idea of having a genius: a creative entity that brings inspiration to collaborate with the artist. Today we typically think of this as a muse. The artist is the servant of the muse, offering the grunt labor to bring the idea into being. As a co-collaborator, the artist is only partially responsible for the success or failure of the work.  

The video is 20 minutes long, but if you can give yourself a learning/ inspiration break today, it's worth the watch.

BIG MAGIC expands on the TED talk, and it is a rich, nurturing baptism into the good news of creative living free from fear. It may be the psychologically healthiest thing I've ever read about being an artist. A lot of writers on craft focus on all the barriers to creativity--resistance, apathy, difficulty, fear. I think this can sometimes lead to the paradigm of the tortured artist who believes that their creative work requires brutal sacrifice and torture. Gilbert reminds us that ideas want to be brought to life by artists and that our creativity chose us and is dependent on us to produce anything in the world. So why would we think it hates us and is trying to punish us? One line from BIG MAGIC I quite like on this theme is this:

“I’ve always had the sense that the muse of the tormented artist—while the artist himself is throwing temper tantrums—is sitting quietly in a corner of the studio, buffing its fingernails, patiently waiting for the guy to calm down and sober up so everyone can get back to work.”

Here are my main takeaways from the book:

• Ideas are seekers of human collaboration and we have the freedom to say yes or no to them. If you say no, someone else will get that idea and run with it. If you say yes, but don't show up to do the work, eventually the power of that idea will leave you, looking for another collaborator.
• You're never too old to begin.
• Take the long view of failure and rejection: I plan to do this for the rest of my life. Many years of rejection is only short-term. 
• Do not pressure your creative work to succeed or provide for you financially. That's the quickest way to kill it off. You provide for both yourself and your creative work. (Don't quit your day job.)
• Stop complaining. Complaining about your creative life is bad juju and ideas will not want to collaborate with you. Treat your work with respect, approach it with love, and see how that alters your experience of doing the work.
• Create because you love to do it. There may be no other reward.
• Your work is not your baby. Cut, change, adapt if you must. Your creative power is precious, but your projects will never find their way in the world if you feel that you must forever hover over them protectively. 
•  You are unlikely to get the outcome in the world that you desire from your work. Not that you will never succeed. But even success takes longer and comes in unexpected ways. You cannot control the outcome. Create anyway.
• Put fierce trust in the love you bear for your creativity, trust for which the qualifiers of success or failure effectively lose their meaning.

This mantra toward the end of the book brought me to tears:

"Fierce trust asks you to stand strong within this truth: You are worthy, dear one, regardless of the outcome. You will keep making your work, regardless of the outcome. You will keep sharing your work, regardless of the outcome. You were born to create, regardless of the outcome. And you will never lose trust in the creative process, even when you don't understand the outcome."

I can't recommend this book more. It's a gem, unlike anything in its class.

Here are a list of other books I've enjoyed as creative inspiration and writing craft:

On Writing, Stephen King: The most practical and helpful book on writing and craft I've read. The memoir portion feels erroneous to the reader looking for writing advice, until you realize it's integral. Try not to feel as though you too must produce 2000 words a day after reading it. 

Bird by Bird, Anne Lamott: This was the first book of writing advice I ever read. It's hilarious and honest and focuses on getting past our own hang-ups in order to do the work. 

Walking on Water, Madeleine L’Engle: A Christian spiritual reflection on writing by the author of A WRINKLE IN TIME. Deep and moving, abstract but inspiring. 

The Artist’s Way, Julia Cameron: A twelve week creative recovery workbook, not unlike a twelve step program. Great for digging deep into oneself and mining out the reasons for blockage and reconnecting with your creative dreams.

Reflections on the Magic of Writing, Diana Wynne Jones: A hodge-podge of lectures and essays by the great children's fantasy writer who studied under Lewis and Tolkein at Oxford and authored many books, including HOWL'S MOVING CASTLE. The latest edition has an introduction by Neil Gaiman. 

The Writing Life, Annie Dillard: A soulful memoir by the Pulitzer Prize winning Dillard, reflecting on the experience of her own writing life. 

Writing Down the Bones, Natalie Goldberg: This is a book filled with practical exercises and the exhortation to keep the pen moving! A huge proponent of free writing, Goldberg, a Zen Buddhist, approaches writing as a practice, much like yoga or meditation.

Question for you: What are your favorite books of writing advice? (I'm always adding to my reading list.) If you've read BIG MAGIC, what was your number one takeaway?