Since my last couple of posts have run towards being a little bit preachy (thou shalt not submit prematurely etc  etc), I  thought  it might be a good change of pace to share  a few secrets. Instead of saying what YOU should or shouldn’t be doing, today I’m going to share a quick list of things I have done wrong over the years as I’ve tried to get published.

1.      1.  Submitting too soon. Sending a manuscript off in the afterglow of completion is a big mistake – and yet I’ve done it more than once. There is nothing as exciting as a newly written story – and nothing as horrifying as reading it a month later and seeing what’s wrong with it.  These days I try to revise and polish, and to let a manuscript rest before I send it out.

2.       2. Submitting to the wrong publisher. Yes it’s hard to know which publisher will accept a manuscript, but submitting to a publisher who doesn’t publish children’s books, or doesn’t publish (for example) picture books, or isn’t open to unsolicited submissions is simply a waste of everyone’s time – but I’ve done it. These days I only submit to publishers whose guidelines I’ve read thoroughly and who I know publish the kind of books I’m submitting.

3.       3. Taking rejection personally. I have cried over rejections. I have got angry over rejections. I have been certain that publishers just don’t know what they’re missing. And, worst of all, I’ve let rejections stop me from writing. If I’m honest I haven’t yet learnt not to get a bit upset when I get a rejection – but over time I’ve learnt some resilience. I try to remember that it is my manuscript, not ME, that is being rejected – and that it isn’t personal.

4.  4. Being too attached to a particular manuscript. Some stories are the product of so much blood, sweat and tears, or are on topics so personal, that it is really hard to accept that they might never be published. These are also the manuscripts where I am in danger of being blinded to any deficits because of that attachment. But the reality I have come to understand is that some manuscripts will never be published – for a range of reasons. It’s hard, but these days I try to recognise that an unpublished story might have still done its job for me, in developing my writing skills, or trying something new, or even just getting a story out of my system. No word is ever  wasted.

5.    5.   Trying too hard and missing out on the sheer joy of writing. I’ve done this on and off my whole writing life. Before I was published I would write with a sense of grim determination, gritting my teeth and sure that this time I’d get it right, or else I’d quit. Since I started getting published I have regularly found myself worrying, as I write, whether this story would be as good as the last. My books have won awards – so of course I need to write another award-winner, don’t I?  Yet time has shown me that the best writing I do is when I write for the love of writing, especially in the early draft stages of a story.  

So there you have it – stuff I’ve done wrong. And, if I’m honest, I’m not completely cured of some of these. But I’m working on it.

What about you? Want to share what you do wrong? Leave a comment .