Whether you’re just beginning this journey toward publication or you’ve been on the road for what seems like forever, the last thing you want is yet another “don’t give up” speech. Maybe you’ve already grown weary of rejections and requests to revise, especially when those only result in yet another rejection. Only a few months into your writing career (or maybe longer), you don’t see a light at the end of the tunnel. That’s why it’s time to give up.

Everything you read tells you to keep going. In fact, all over the internet people tell you that this career is a marathon not a sprint and that giving up isn’t an option. But if you’re piling up rejections, it’s easy to wonder why you should keep going. I don’t have the answer to that, but I do know a few things I had to give up after I got my 100th rejection. Otherwise, I wouldn’t have continued writing. Giving up these things will help you keep your focus when you need it most.

1.    Give up your timetable. Many times I’ve heard “I thought I’d be published by now” or “why is it taking so long to get an agent”. Did you know there is no time clock on publication? It doesn’t matter if you get your first book contract at age thirty, forty, or beyond. So stop worrying about the months or years it’s taking you to get published. No one is keeping score, and you’re not going to be graded on how fast you signed your first contract.

2.    Give up your compelling need to be just like (insert well-known author’s name). Every writer has their own path. you can’t expect to follow in anyone’s footsteps. There is no keeping up with the Joneses on the way to publication. Furthermore, you don’t know how long it took that author to get that first publishing contract. Just because they are published and doing well doesn’t mean they had an easy path.

3.    Give up the doubts. With every rejection, it’s easy to doubt your talent, but I promise you, this is a subjective business. One publisher’s rejection is another publisher’s piece of gold. One closed door isn’t the end of your journey; it’s just a detour.

4.    Give up the bitterness. You want to be published, to see your work in print, and with each success of those around you, envy can take root. The more you feed it, the more likely you’ll become mired in it. Instead, be happy when a fellow author gets a contract. That means publishers are still acquiring. An author winning a prestigious prize or reaching the New York Times Bestseller List is a reason to rejoice because it means readers are still buying!

5.    And finally, give up the thought of giving up. If you want this dream to become reality, you have to work for it. Forget the past and forge ahead. Remember that you’re the only one who knows how many rejections you’ve received and how long it’s taken you to get that first contract. It’s not something you ever have to divulge if you don’t want to. But you might find that once you’re published, you won’t mind sharing how long it took you because it will offer encouragement to those writers who are still trying.

Enjoy this journey. Keep learning and growing to prepare yourself for the success coming your way. There’s room in this publishing world for all of us, but not for you if you turn off the computer and walk away from your dream.

BIO – As well as being a published author of fiction, Rachel Carrington is also a nonfiction writer and has written for the New York Times, Startrek.com, The Writer, and many others. She is also the site expert for Red Shirts Always Die, a site devoted to Star Trek. You can visit her on the web at www.rachelcarrington.com and on Instagram @rcarrington2004.
 

3891376 © David Morrison | Dreamstime.com