Slush You Very Much
Was I complaining in my last post about edits and my veritable fear of perfecting my mss for my editor?
Just smack me! Because photos like this...
And this...
Remind me just how friggin' hard it is to become an...ahem, author.
And that's just ONE publisher's slush, TOR's to be exact. Multiply that by a dozen or so other NY houses that accept unsolicited manuscripts and that mountain you're climbing ain't Everest it's Mt. Slushamanjaro.
Mad love to all the writer's out there trying to do their thing. Don't let the slush get you down.
And just in case you don't have enough blogs to keep you from your writing, check out this post about rejection: SlushKiller
BTW, the edits are moving along. Just thought I'd check in on the b-l-o-g before checking out for the night.
posted by Paula at 12:05 AM
7 Comments:
Oh, that so depresses me.
9:24 PM
I'm on the grind myself, trying to get published, but I must confess I'm not doing my thing lately the way I should be.
Still, I've always been aware of the slush pile. Oddly enough, it doesn't make me feel defeated. I know I have the talent. It's just a matter of getting my work out there into the right hands. I know it's hard out there for a pimp, but it's not impossible. If anything, the photos of the slush pile make me want to grind even harder.
10:45 AM
but I must confess I'm not doing my thing lately the way I should be.
We're all guilty of that at some point. If writing isn't your full-time gig, trying to fit it into the multitude of other things on your plate is a challenge.
The fact that there are publishers still willing to take unsolicited work is a tribute to the writers that keep plugging at it until somebody sees the diamond in the rough.
Thanks for dropping in The Hive Mind.
1:20 PM
Writing is my full-time gig but not the kind I prefer; I'm a technical writer by day. I like it but would like it more if I didn't work for such a crap company. That's another story altogether. I would much prefer to do my fictional work as my day job, but unless someone drops me a fat book contract, I don't see that happening. One can always dream, though.
In the meantime, I squeeze in some writing time when I can. I'm a little hard on myself with my current writing project because I feel I'm not writing at the pace that I should and could be. To me, 21,000 plus words is not good enough; I should have more. I got in some mad writing time with my last two novels and think I should be at that same level and pacing. I'm just not with this project, at least not yet, but at the same time, this novel is different in that I am writing a trilogy. However, I must confess that some of my other activities (web sites, blogging) take up more fictional writing time than they should. Anything is better than nothing, though.
Thanks for dropping in The Hive Mind.
Not a problem. It's nice to see someone making it. One of these days, I'll be right behind you.
2:28 PM
I feel you on the blogging and other writing eating up novel time.
I've been squeezing my book edits in during the late night and it's kicking my butt!
My goal is at least one fat contract per year...without one there's no way I'll quit the day gig.
We'll see how that goes.
5:16 PM
Holy crap! I've never actually seen a slushpile before. That thing is scary. No wonder so many houses accept agented material only.
- Jay
3:47 PM
The slush can be intimidating. But I look at it this way...when it's someone's job to pore through it they have a mighty good eye for what's good and what's not!
6:44 PM
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