Author: Matthew Battles
Date:   10-30-09 18:50

I've almost had it! I've been writing this book now for almost 5 years without ANYTHING! Friends say my book is good, but of course they will!! No-one else seems to like it.

Perhaps I'm just not cut out to be a published author.

Author: Greg Kosson
Date:   10-30-09 19:30

I understand how frustrating this can be, or at least I’ve experienced it myself.

There is no rule of the universe deciding who is and who is not cut out to be an author. You make that decision. It may involve many more years of struggle. It may require getting feedback from people who aren’t your friends, developing a thick skin, enduring rejection after rejection after rejection, writing more unpublished books and just going forward no matter what.

It can a be a depressing and lonely path. I kept walking it and that worked for me, although I’m not even sure sometimes it was worth it. If you need to take a break, do that. It is easy to think one’s own writing is ready when it’s not, or that one is ready when one is not. And it’s even easier to drive yourself crazy in the process.

For myself, all I ask is that people call me Greg, not Gary.

Author: Don Daffron
Date:   10-30-09 19:42

It all depends on how much you want it. It’s that way with anything in life. If you want it bad enough you can do it. Unfortunately there are no guarantees even if you actually write a publishable book you still may never get published. Just keep in mind you will not be successful unless you put everything you have into it.

You can brush up on sentence structure and punctuation on the net. You can read about writing fiction in books and read others’ books. You can take a class on writing. There is too much to learn in a short time. I suggest you do all of the above.

Remember, writing is work.

Author: Honey Pen
Date:   10-30-09 21:51

"For myself, all I ask is that people call me Greg, not Gary." Greg, I AM the world's biggest doofus, dufus, however you spell it. Call me Honky Pin, Hunny Pie--you choose. So sorry Greg. It was late; I had had too much wine; didn't have my glasses on--I'll make no more excuses.

Please forgive.

Author: Chris Hagler
Date:   10-30-09 22:45

I think it's "doofus"........but anyway.

Matthew! Don't quit yet!

Is that what I'm supposed to say?

Really, I have pitched my current MS to over a hundred agents with no takers. I completely understand what you're going through. I realize that a lot of my queries go unread. I'm finding it's hard as heck to sign an agent when you haven't already had a best-seller, but I'm not throwing in the towel.

I believe in what I've written. I know it's a good work, not just because it's mine. I have read it over and over with the most objective frame of mind I can muster and I still think it's good. If you can say the same about what you've written, then keep plugging away. I'm the last person on earth qualified to tell you that some agent will fall out of the sky and get your book published and reviewed in the Times, but if you really think it's worth it.........

Good Luck.

Author: Greg Kosson
Date:   10-30-09 23:51

Honey- not to worry! This has happened a number of times and it's not just you. Besides, the real Gary has lots of great information and there are worse people to be confused with.

What amazes me is going back and looking at writing I did some years ago that I was convinced was truly marketable. Now I read it and say "what was I thinking!?" Sometimes we have to just move on to the next project, and the next, until one of them sticks instead of sucks.

That can be difficult because we feel loyalty to each of our creations, but the ultimate loyalty should be to your career.

Author: Gary Kessler
Date:   10-31-09 00:08

The real Gary here, and I'm afraid I'm not much fun on a thread like this. I don't try to discourage folks from quiting trying to write for publication. You've got to really love it and be highly motivated to do it, and there's no more reason to "have" to be a published writer than a brain surgeon. And it's not like the field isn't overcrowded with those still dying to get it done and still willing to plug away at it. Often at least taking a break and developing other interests is, in fact, just what you need to do--either to remotivate you or to turn you to interests that are going to be more satisfying. And it's not like the field isn't overcrowded with those still dying to get it done and still willing to plug away at it. I think I said that before.

Author: Don Daffron
Date:   10-31-09 00:16

It really doesn’t matter to anyone but him whether he quits or not. The advice I gave him would work for any endeavor. The individual must decide his/her direction in life.

Author: Janice W-D
Date:   10-31-09 00:22

Aren't you 18? To say you're quitting now, that you don't have the talent to become a writer, is like an intern saying they're dropping out of med school because they don't know how to perform brain surgery solo yet. Writing, like any other profession, has a long apprenticeship. Some say 10 years or more and that's the result of focused studying like taking classes, attending workshops and joining a critique group. If you continue to study only on your own, the learning curve may be even longer.

It's hard work but it's completely worth it, for me anyway.

Best,
Janice

Author: Charlotte Castle
Date:   10-31-09 07:40

I read somewhere that most published authors have at least one manuscript 'under the bed'. Ie not published. I know that my mother had a number of false starts and after 7 internationally published novels has recently written a novella which will not see the light of day.

It is amazing how much time away from a novel can help. Could you consider putting it away for 3 months and having a break or working on something else for that time. Then come back to it. I just left my book for 2 weeks and it is AMAZING how much clearer I can see my writing just for that small time away from it.

My advice, give yourself a holiday, come back to it and re-edit. If you still believe in it, keep going, but you may find that the sparks for a new project have begun and that you feel comfortable with filing your first project under 'May Come Back To One Day."

Best of luck.

Author: Sam English
Date:   10-31-09 07:43

If you're quitting at 18 because you can't get published, then you've just proven to yourself that the "being published" part trumps the "writing" part for you. What have you done, in your eighteen years, besides attending school, to learn the craft of writing? Just because you can write (most everyone can write something) doesn't mean you've written something marketable...especially if you haven't put in the hours to learn the craft.

Author: Kitty Foyle
Date:   10-31-09 08:12

Good Lord, Matthew, you're probably still walking around with acne!

I see you're a sensitive, somewhat obsessive Piscean -- quite possibly prone to addictions of some kind. Maybe your book is very depressing in some way. Which of course makes you feel depressed too, as the thing (monster?) is in your blood night and night. Sounds like you need to unhinge yourself from it for a while, and do some more living. (Feel free to ignore my penny opinion.)

(My sun is also in Pisces, okay?)

" For myself, all I ask is that people call me Greg, not Gary." Hah! Just be glad they don't call you Gregg, like I used to do!

*_*

Author: larry moses
Date:   10-31-09 08:43

Chris, you've said it all. I've queried more than 100 lit agents and publishers. I'm getting requests from agents for the first three chapters, and one for the full manuscript. I'm still waiting to hear the axe drop.

Anyway, I posted my query and the first two chapters here. For the query, I got some positive advice and help. For the chapters, I got some insults. One said it read like Wikipedia. We'll see what the agents say when they read. I have confidence in my work, that's why I'm pressing on regardless of what others say.

Hang in there, Matthew. When I get rejects, I vent. If only the agents could hear the names that I call them...

Author: Joe Zeff
Date:   10-31-09 19:08

Matthew, I know a man, personally, who once spent forty hours a week for a full year writing, editing, submitting and re-writing short stories before he got his first one published. (For reasons that aren't important here, he didn't have, or need a "day job.") He didn't stop because he was getting rejected, he kept going and finally succeeded. Now, he writes best-selling novels.

Author: Gary Kessler
Date:   10-31-09 19:14

Right, Joe. But if he wanted to stop, that would have been quite fine too. It doesn't mean he wouldn't have started up again at some point, if he then wanted to. But it would have saved the world a whole lot of "you can't give up" coaching and inspirational jazz just to stroke hurt egos. If you want to give up, even if only temporarily, do so. It doesn't leave that big of a whole in the seeking pool.

Author: Gary Kessler
Date:   10-31-09 19:14

Opps. "hole" not "whole" and I saw it just as I was punching the button. Crum.

Author: Kitty Foyle
Date:   10-31-09 20:11

I do think Matthew should put his "appendage" in a drawer for a while and attempt to experience some LIFE. He's bound to get a whole (there's your word ,Gary) new perspective on things. He'd also glean some valuable knowledge about the human persuasion. How bad could that be?.

Ah, to be 18 again! I was so restless and eager to be out and about; everything was new and exciting. And yeah, I've done plenty of learning and growing since then. :-)

He's probably not eating right either.

*_*

Author: Busy Lizzy
Date:   11-01-09 13:34

Matthew,

Maybe you should put your novel aside for some time and try writing shorter things, short stories for example.

There are plenty of writing contests out there. Try contributing something to a contest. If you are lucky and your style is readable, you might win one or the other contest and you have something to add to your CV. Something that makes agents pick up their ears and notice.

Don't lose the spark and don't forget that writing is supposed to be fun. I wouldn't write a single word, if it weren't a whole lot of fun.

If you really have the writing bug, there is no way you could "quit" anyway.

Author: Ray Spengler
Date:   11-02-09 00:08

Matthew,

I've been at at it for almost eight years. Five manuscripts aching to be read, to be published. But I'm not giving up. I started late. I'm sixty-two now, but I'll not give up. I'm just glad that I've been rejected early on, so that I could learn and improve. And I have. Should I die before I succeed, the relentless pursuit will have been worth the effort. It drives me. Let it drive you.

Ray