He was a twenty-something guy with dreams of becoming a writer.
He imagined writing that BIG book, that novel that would knock the socks off the literary world.
For a long time, becoming a literary star remained just that—a dream.
Finally, after the twenty-something guy turned thirty, he decided it was time to put his dream into action, to start writing that book.
For two years, he scribbled away, furiously filling up notebooks in longhand.
Then one fine day, he went to the local post office and sent out his precious, typewritten manuscript, carefully bundled and packaged —his baby—to a literary agent in the great city of New York.
And waited.
Months later, the manuscript came back with a terse note about his work: Not for us.
He sent the manuscript or portions of it to other literary agents … and waited but got pretty much the same unwanted response.
He wrote another book, and then another and another …
Hungry to unlock the great secret for becoming a published writer, he studied Writers Market, the bible for writers, voraciously pored over the pages of Writer’s Digest, a monthly guide for budding authors.
He no longer dreamed of being the next Hemingway. He just wanted published, to be able to call himself an author.
The years went by and there came many more rejection letters, all of which he filed away in a drawer. They would serve as reminders, he assured himself, of those many years when he couldn’t get published.
Eventually, the writer found an agent. Finally, validation that someone believed in his work, his hard-earned reward for all the work and waiting and rejections.
Sadly, the agent couldn’t find a place for his book.
Into his forties, he kept writing and sending out his manuscripts. It was the dawn of the internet age, and he no longer had to mail out chapters of his books and wait weeks or months for responses. Now, the rejections were coming by email, just hours after he sent out his queries.
And then, everything changed: The self-publishing era arrived.
No gatekeepers to prevent writers from publication. Finish a book and hit the publish button and Presto! you were an author.
But is that what he wanted? It seemed too easy, even wrong. All those years, writing and rewriting, earning his stripes to be an author, only to reach a time when anyone could be a writer.
He was far from a young man now. All those years, all the rejections, yet somehow, he’d kept the faith, a foolish faith, a crazy chase of wasted days and nights that might have been better spent in another endeavor, something with a reward.
He was at a crossroads.
Maybe you can relate to this story, perhaps more so if you’re an old baby boomer who pummeled those impenetrable doors of literary agents and publishing houses back in those halcyon days of the 1980s and ‘90s when life was slower and less complicated and it really did seem as if only the few, the anointed, became published authors.
Becoming a writer, let alone a successful one, is still no easy deal, and there remain agents and publishing houses that beckon writers with contracts, money and validation that they might belong in the esteemed club of authors. Many still opt for this traditional publishing route and likely face what so many writers faced—rejection.
It’s a choice every serious writer must eventually make, traditional publishing or self-publishing.
Whatever choice you make, give the book your best effort. Write the book you want to write. Polish it, have it edited.
But don’t stand on one book.
Write another book … and another … and another.
Grow as a writer. Improve, get better.
Don’t get frustrated. Okay. You will get frustrated, but if you really want to be a writer, you’ll stay the course.
Mike Reuther is a freelance writer and author of numeous works of fiction and nonfiction. Learn more about him at https://www.amazon.com/stores/Mike-Reuther/author/B009M5GVUW?ref=ap_rdr&store_ref=ap_rdr&isDramIntegrated=true&shoppingPortalEnabled=true
