Today is my turn on the ol' Blog Chain again, and this round's topic was chosen by the absolutely amazing
Sarah, who wants to know:
What has been the most unexpected part of your writing journey up to this point? What has happened that you could never have predicted? Has it been a help or a hindrance?
Awesome question. And the short answer: EVERYTHING :D
Everything about my writing journey has been unexpected. From how much I truly love it, to how much work is involved, to how many rejections one really does get (my first novel numbered close to 200), to how long (and sometimes how fast) things can happen, to the absolutely amazing friends I've met along the way.
I started out with the very misguided misconception that I could write a book, edit it a few times (myself of course, after all, I have a masters in English, I shouldn't need help, right?), send it out, and get signed within days. My first attempt at querying didn't, unfortunately, break me of this thinking because I actually lucked out and received a few requests off my horrible query letter...and one was from none other than the Godmother of Romance herself, Roberta Brown (who wasn't even accepting queries at that time but who read mine and requested a full).
Awesome, yes. Good for my ego, yes. Realistic, no. I was rejected, of course, but with a very nice, personal letter that praised my writing. But, it didn't take too long to learn that querying doesn't usually go as smoothly and my journey was going to be a lot longer than I thought :)
So, yeah, really EVERYTHING about this journey has been unexpected....but I can't think of any of those things that has been a hindrance. Not even the never-ending waiting and crushing disappointment. All of it serves a purpose. I've grown incredibly close to some truly amazing people while we support each other through the lows and celebrate the highs. The long hours spent working and rewriting and shredding have served to hone my craft into something that's actually publishable. I wouldn't trade a second of it. It's helped make me the writer I am now and is shaping the even better writer I will become.
Sometimes the unexpected can be fun - like signing with my NF agent within days of querying her, getting a request from an agent or publisher I thought I had NO shot with, or meeting another awesome writer bud.
Really, I've come to expect the unexpected along this journey. You just can't plan for anything that's going to happen, because even the things you KNOW will happen usually happen in a completely unexpected way :)
Bottom line....I've learned to just sit back and enjoy the ride :)
What has been the most unexpected part of YOUR journey?
Make sure you stop by the ever awesome Eric's to see his answer from yesterday, and stop by Margie's on Friday to find out what she didn't expect :)
