Behind the Curtain - Writing Advice
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I've perhaps strayed once again too far away from the direct topic of writing, but there is another point that I think needs made for those of us who've chosen to pursue the art of writing. All too often the sentiment I see and hear among writers is that there is just too much of the publishing process that is outside the realm of the writer's control.
It is virtually impossible to get an agent. The agents who are out there actively seeking new clients are deluged with hundreds of queries per week. Even if we do get an agent it is virtually impossible to get a publisher. Nobody is actively seeking new projects of type X. All of the money is being thrown at this, that or the other, all of which aren't the type of book I'm trying to sell. Book stores are conspiring to make it all but impossible for new authors to get any traction. American's don't read anymore so the market for books continues to shrink.
There are probably a thousand other 'reasons' why it is foolish to even start a book with the intent of getting it published. In fairness, when faced with the sheer number of obstacles in our path it is understandable that many of us choose to focus on the things that they can't impact.
By doing this it is almost as though we take getting published and turn it into a kind of natural disaster. It's too big, too uncaring for us to ever impact it, and believing anything else is pure hubris.
It's true that in publishing, just like in natural disasters there is an element of apparent chance. An earthquake may kill the innocent and spare the corrupt. A publisher may pick a project with little or no apparent value over others that have real potential.
Still, I keep coming back to the fact that even in the worst of natural disasters, there is almost always something we can do, or could have done to improve our chances of coming through it. It may be as simple as having stores of water and food to help see us through until order is reestablished, but it's generally there.
I believe that the same principle holds true in publishing. There isn't anything most of us can do to ensure success, but there are an incredible number of things we can do to improve our odds. They range from learning how to write the best queries possible, to networking, to studying the great authors in an attempt to replicate the elements that made them such a success.
It mostly boils down to the idea that we really just need to focus on the elements that we can effectively control.
I've noticed a reoccurring theme when it comes to people put into difficult circumstances. Many simple freeze up and refuse to do anything. It's almost as though they hope by ignoring the problem that it will disappear, or at least pass them by with a minimum of damage.
Others seem to explode into action as they realize how much trouble they are in, but generally the action is of the less-effective type. When faced with a problem they continue to do the things that they know best regardless of whether or not that is the proper response for the situation they are actually headed towards. I think of them as the people who are desperately bailing water out of the boat as it heads over Niagara falls.
Relatively few people are capable of looking at an approaching problem and formulating a course of action that has a chance of altering events. They may not always succeed, but these people generally display a willingness to acknowledge impending disaster and a willingness to accept control of events around them, and assuming that they are generally intelligent, the outcomes they produce are usually better than what they would have achieved by inaction.
If we refuse to acknowledge the various problems facing us, if we're unwilling to take control of the elements of our lives that we can influence, we effectively cut ourselves off from most of the greatness that we might otherwise achieve.
As writers that mostly boils down to our writing. If we consistently produce high-quality material, are professional in our interactions with those in our field, and continue to generate new stories, the odds are many times better than if we quit or continue to turn out stuff that isn't any better than our first attempt years and year previously.
Keep writing, keep learning, keep querying, and enjoy the journey.