"There ain't no such thing as a free lunch." -- Robert Heinlein
Even if you don't have to cough up cash, someone has to pay for it; and if you don't honor the debt you incur, it costs you face and reputation. You may not care, but there's still a cost, always. Even if you just pull up wild onion by the road, it costs time and effort and sunlight and water.
You have to pay your dues.
I see people, even friends of mine, giving advice all the time. It's usually pretty good advice. I just read Denise Tompkins' blog post about synopses, and it was great. I spoke with her the other night about the professionalism of her blog voice, how much I enjoy it, how right she usually is, and we laughed about the way a great bit of writing sometimes seems like the swan from the line of ducklings. We sweat and grieve and waffle, then finally put it out there and wait for people to point and laugh, but often the result is actually good.
I'm no expert. This blog is about our efforts to learn, to sink or swim in the world of modern publishing, but I like to think there are useful, pithy bits now and then. I have no qualifications worth including in a query; my degrees are computers and ancient language, my job is telecom, and I've not had so much as a short story actually published and paid (technically not true, but I assure you the technicality doesn't buy gum.)
Yet I write. I offer my apparently baseless opinions. I query our book with confidence, knowing that it still has so much improvement to be made.
I'm paying my dues, and learning what I need. I'm patient, and I don't give up. In the meantime, I'm writing, polishing the book we've finished, working on the next, tossing in a few lines to others now and then, planning for the day when my backlist is long enough to earn a living.
I'm enjoying the ride. In the meantime, I borrow experience and contacts from dear friends like Denise who's plowing ahead with her Nitecliff Evolutions, and with Raising Cain, which sounds utterly engrossing.
Good luck, Denise, and thanks for the visit. It recharges my batteries to know that talent and perseverance can and do, in fact, make it in today's market.
I'm so freaking humbled by this post that I'm not even sure what to say. It's a compliment of gigantic proportion to know I contribute to other writers' knowledge base, their virtual "toolbox" and, yes, to the recharging of their batteries. To think you look at me and see talent leaves me more than a little flustered.
ReplyDeleteThe writer's journey (literal, not literary) is so fraught with brambles, sinkholes, quicksand and carnivores that we forget, more often than not, to take the hand offered in support. We hear only the roar of rejection and not the encouragement of those walking with us, whether they're up ahead pulling us along or behind us propping us up when we wobble.
If I can manage to push and pull, fend off the carnivores, help steer those closest to me clear of the sinkholes and quicksand, and provide bandages for the bramble cuts? It's then that I'll truly believe I've been the support system the writers around me deserve.
Thank you, Paul and Sabrina, for the words of encouragement that one fraudulently confident debut author needed to hear.
Now if you'll excuse me, I have a synopsis to bend to my will. ;)