My slow road to publication

First . . . blatant self-promotion.  Here's the cover for my October Finley Tanner mystery:

Now on to the topic of the day . . .

The AH-HA moment for me came in the 3^rd grade when I won a $25.00 savings bond for winning the DAR essay contest.  I envisioned myself in a seaside cabin in New England, waves crashing against the cliffs while I pecked on the keys of an IBM Selectric writing one national best seller after the next.  Somewhere around my freshman year of college, I figured out that that was a movie portrayal of a writer and not the reality. 

So I graduated, got a job, got married and after a few years, I listened to that little voice in my head beckoning me back to the typewriter (no, computers weren’t an option then).  I did consider myself an aspiring writer.  Why?  Because I hadn’t been paid for my work.  I’m a fairly bottom line kind of person, so until I got a check, it was a dream and a hobby.  That didn’t diminish my determination; in fact, dangling the carrot of actually becoming a published author was a great motivator for me.

Good thing since it took me ten years – yes a full decade – to sell my first book.  There were a gazillion reasons for me to give up and only one reason to keep trying.  I wanted to be a published author.  Thirty-something books later, I am really proud of the fact that I didn’t succumb to the gazillion reasons I could have thrown in the towel. 

It is also the reason I have some hot buttons when it comes to people working toward publication.  Pre-published?  I hear that and I want to scream.  BTW, that means your book has sold and you are simply waiting for the release date.  PRO, apologies to RWA but I consider that the “I failed Algebra but had perfect attendance” designation.  Is it really possible to be more unpublished than someone else?  All of my friends who are agents loathe the pre-published line.  It’s right up there with putting the job title ‘author’ or ‘writer’ on the business card you use for conferences and other writer’s events.  It’s the same as handing the principal a card that reads ‘parent’ at the PTA meeting.  No need to state the obvious. 

Celebrate the good things that happen on the road to publication.  It doesn’t matter how long that road is (Thank God).  Start with congratulating yourself for meeting milestones – the ½-way point in the wip; or completing the manuscript.  Celebrate having the nerve to send your baby out into the cruel world of publishing.  Celebrate patience.  Work smart – don’t sit around waiting, get to work on your next manuscript.  The only thing I know to be absolutely true is that you can’t sell something you haven’t written, so if you really want to be a writer, finish a manuscript, then finish another, and another . . .

Happy Writing,

Rhonda