Then I just kept reading all the work of really great authors and realized how my work would never be as half as good as any of theirs. :-( I'm probably being foolish sticking at this. But it's all I want to do.
Just keep practicing. That's the best advice I can give you. Not everyone can write, that is true, but not everyone tries. If you keep it up, eventually you will have something great, and eventually, you'll be published. Just gotta try hard and keep at it. Writing is like a fine wine. It can only get better over time if you take care of it.
Yeah, I know. I just get random bouts of depression once in a while. Somedays I love my writing, other days I want to burn my manuscripts.
Welcome to the world of the writer. Everyone feels this. But try to look at it another way. If you're reading this amazing work, then someone wrote it. Ergo it's possible. And if they can do it, why the hell can't you? Sure, you may have a long way to go, but it's possible. And every sentance you write, you'll get a bit better. So try to turn dispair into inspiration. That's how I approach it, anyway. Not that it always works, but it does sometimes.
Thanks for the confidence. Yesterday I was really exicited about typing up a final draft of this story I was certain had a decent shot at publication. But as I write it today all I can do is cringe.
How old are you? I'm 19, and I feel like that quite a bit myself. Other people tell me that I have to just keep writing and reading as much as I can, and eventually I'll come into form. I think that's all you really can hope for.
Everyone feels like that at times, me more than others due to my Bi-Polor disorder. The trick is to not get discurriged, mabye it just wasn't your day?
It appears that the majority of us are still really young, and we still have time to make our mark on the world. Don't give up. Maybe you should stop thinking about getting published. It sounds like that's one of your main goals when you sit down to write, so maybe try and have a new set of goals for all of your stories?
I am 52 and have been telling stories since I was 5. I raised 2 boys on my stories and have told hundreds while I was a teen earning money by babysitting. I started writing them down for my grandchildren 7 years ago. Domoviye my son told me to come here and post some so I could get opinions from strangers. Well I have been here for about 6 months and this month I finally sent a story to a literary agent. I am waiting for the critique to come back. But I am hopeful that it will help improve that story and my writing in general. The agent said she thought it was very sellable and since they don't get paid unless it sells I guess she was telling the truth. You are 22 so my advice is keep writing. Let others read what you write and listen to them. Take their advice and you will be published. Take it from an old grandmother it is doable.
Nobakov, Gibson, Vonnegut, Cormac McCarthy, Shakespeare, Poe... Yeah, you can see why I'm depressed. :-(
For that matter, I'll be 55 in under a month, and never seriously considered trying to get anything published. I have every hope of getting something in print in the next couple of years. I'm hoping being a stubborn cuss of a perfectionist will help. You have all the time in the world, and from what I've seen, no shortage of talent. So it will probably come down to: haw badly do you want it, and how hard will youi work for it.
Thanks for the words of wisdom and inspiration, Cogito. I think I'm trying too hard to get published because I've just wanted some kind of concrete proof that my writing is worthwhile. It's not really an ego thing, but I've been striving to improve my writing and I suppose I just want to make sure that I have been improving. So I figured a publication would give me that extra motivation to keep at it. I think the worst time for a writer is when he's trying to get his first printed story. Trying to write for publication has made me lose my passion for it. I think I'm just going to go back to the good old days when I wrote just for the sake of writing. It's so much better that way.
I think whatever stage you're at, you'll think it is difficult--or at least some aspect. Novelists who have one under their belt, consider trying to write and succeed with the second novel is more pressure-filled than the first. There is nothing wrong with writing what you want and how you want, and working to improve. You can send out the works that are complete and see what happens. With some markets, it takes so long for a response, that you may forget about that work while you're striving to complete others. Of course, if you do, keep a spread sheet or some sort of log, to track. If they find a publisher, so much the better. If they don't, what have you lost? Terry
You don't have to be half as good as the published writers, you don't have to write like them at all and your work can never be compared to theirs, because frankly, it is impossible for your work to be like any other writers work. We all view the world differently and anything we write, is written from our own perspective. If you want to get your work published, concentrate on developing your own writing skills, choose a genre you are interested in, research the genre, and don't worry about being as good as other writers, only worry about enjoying what you are doing. Writing is a fun and enjoyable process. We all find it hard to become published, but we don't give up. You don't fail if you get rejected, you have suceeded as you gave it a shot. Just keep working at it and one day you will get there. Just takes a lot of time is all.
this may be totally strange and the wrong attitude but I don't really care about being published for the usual reasons. Fame fortune recognition standing in the community. I want to be published so that more little kids will read my stories and develop their own imaginations. I have all these stories to build on and not enough children to read them. That is why I want to be published. Is that strange? I think in a way it is. I think it also says that I am not normal in the standard form of normal.
It's alright Lessa, if more people seen not currently being published as more a 'Shame' than a 'Disappointment' then there would be a lot more good stuff to read out there, as often the people who write the best works discourage them selves from trying, due to over-sensitivity.
At 16 I was offered a job in Iceland as a beta tester and content producer for Eve Online. I was working on a book for S&S publishing. At 17 I was writing for Gamers Hell and was covering E3 on a press pass at a hotel. At 18 I stopped writing, because I thought it was stupid. At 19 I started again and was offered a publishing deal with some members of a web forum. At 20 I worked for two newspapers as a photographer and as layout. At 21 I am where I am now. Where do you go from here? It's a hard question, but if you've written in the past... Now everyone writes blogs. The internet is the new spot. Who cares what you do as long as you continue to write and write well. It's up to the artist to decide if he or she is good enough to actually do anything. It's been my opinion that if you can't find a publisher, you're not doing something right.
