Writing and Golf (or, What to Do, What to Do)

(This should be read in a matter-of-fact, non-whiny voice. It is not a pity party.)

I am about this close to calling it quits with trying to get published. And probably not for the reasons you would anticipate. I've been reading some agent blogs lately, and yeah, the numbers are staggeringly discouraging. One agent said he gets about 15,000 queries per year and takes on 3-5 new clients. But that's not what has discouraged me.  One agent answered my question about the future of historical fiction honestly by saying, "I won't lie. It's tough." I appreciate her straight answer, and although it's a discouraging answer for me, both as a writer and as a reader, that's not what has discouraged me.

Here's the discouraging part: I've been reading the comments left on those blogs, too, most of which are left by aspiring writers. And there are three attitudes that I'm picking up on that, if they are representative of "the game," just turn me off.  First, some people are just rude. It makes me think of what I learned about life in elementary school - some people try to make themselves look good (or in the case of these comments, clever or "with it" or saavy about the world of publishing) by belittling others in replies to those others' comments. I don't know why I'm surprised by that; aspiring writers are a microcosm of the rest of society, and there's a percentage of people in any field who are that way.

Second, I don't like the constant self-promotion (or promotion of one's work, I guess). I know in this competitive environment it's really important to get the word out. And I know that if you don't toot your own horn, no one else is going to do it. But some commentors manage to work in a discussion of their plot or characters no matter what the original topic of the post is.

Finally, and this one bothers me most, no one seems to be listening to anyone else. There may be 100+ comments, but most of them are discrete responses to the original post. Only occasionally does something like a conversation get going. Maybe I misunderstand the purpose of comments and am thinking of something that is more like a forum or discussion board. But I sometimes think the internet has made it all too easy for each of us to have our say without paying any attention to what someone else is saying. 

So....back to my original contention, that I think I might quit. I'm not a competitive person. I don't want to have to engage in those sorts of behaviors to "succeed."  I don't want to be famous. The only reason I started writing was because I wanted to tell the story. Somewhere along the way, I began to think writing was only worthwhile if it "paid off." I felt too guilty about spending time at the computer instead of playing with my kids or washing dishes if there wasn't going to be a product that could bring in something as return on investment. But you know something? I bet there are millions of golfers who spend lots of time on the golf course but never expect to play professionally. They do it because it is relaxing and enjoyable. Why can't I feel the same way about my writing?

Maybe I should put my story on the Kindle store for 99 cents and be done with it!

(The thing that makes me reluctant to do that, though, is that I might lose the drive to improve the story. If I had put my book out there when I first finished it two/three years ago, it would have been flabby compared to what it is today, when I'm trying to edit it into a form strong enough to attract an agent's attention. But then again, maybe I'm editing the thing to death. I just know that when I go back after a couple of weeks and read the chapters I've trimmed 500 words out of, I realize those chapters are MUCH better than before. It's pretty amazing how virile the language can be when every word is forced to carry a major load!)

"It Won't Sell" Dissected

A tidbit from the Rejectionist's blog that I thought was funny because it's probably so true:

The important thing to remember is that big publishing is owned by Satan, and what Satan cares about is money, and the prevailing sentiment in publishing is that short story collections/high fullutent literary fiction projects don't sell. (Is that even true? ... As with some other conversations we've been having about what "doesn't sell," often times "it won't sell" is shorthand in publishing for "we don't feel like trying very hard to market it/we have no idea but it seems scary/we would rather spend money giving a large advance to Lauren Conrad/people of color?!?!? WHAT!! THEY READ??!?!.")

A Moment of Bitterness....

In my morning routine of checking email, I found a message offering me a coupon to an online bookstore, so ever the procrastinator, I decided to check out what the store had (instead of really getting to work). The coupon wasn't that great, but that's not what I'm bitter about....it was the book titles that were featured on the front page of the online store.

Two of the three books were celebrity memoirs, one for Ozzy Osborne and one for Jenny Sanford. Ozzy - ok, he's been around and lived some life - maybe he's got something interesting enough to put in a book. The one that really got me, though, was this Jenny Sanford memoir (Staying True, I think was its name).

Honestly, my first reaction was, "Who's Jenny Sanford?" Then the fog lifted from my morning brain, and I remembered she is the wife of the governor of South Carolina, the governor who had an affair with a woman from Argentina and disappeared for a few days, supposedly out hiking the Appalachian trail (uh-huh).

Once I remembered that, that's when the bitterness set in. How long ago was the entire Sanford scandal? Last summer? Six months ago? And the woman already has a published book for sale? Heck, in six months, I can't even get a response to my query from an agent or publisher as to whether they might like to look at my full manuscript! As a writer, this makes me even more convinced that all the big publishing houses care about is making a quick buck.

As a reader, I'm dismayed. The Sanford affair was all over talk TV. What is going to be in this book that hasn't already been said? More tawdry details? Raw emotion? Moralizing about the sanctity of marriage? Fine. Maybe that's what some readers want. I'm sure someone will buy the book. But I find myself wondering if the content of this book wouldn't have worked equally well as the feature story in some women's magazine.

Color me disgusted.