Keepin' on keepin' on (and free books!)

The Manuscript Mavens are excited to welcome Guest Maven Carrie Ryan!

Here's Carrie:

First off, in honor of this awesome blog I wanted to give away some awesome books. Read through to the end of the post to find out how (ha! made you read it!)

Some of you who know me, know my boyfriend is also a writer (spec fic short stories). Last year, at the beginning of 2006, we embarked on what we call our 10 Year Plan. It's pretty simple: in ten years we want to be able to support ourselves with writing. We recognized how hard it was going to be, how long it would take (hence the 10 years). We started off great: in my first year on the plan I wrote 171,701 words and JP wrote 50 stories and got a sale. We've both plugged ourselves into the writing world, learned about markets, etc. We've told ourselves time and again: the only people who dont' make it are those that give up. If you just keep writing, eventually we'll make it.

So why do people give up? And for those of us who don't, what keeps us writing?

I've been thinking about this because today my boyfriend wrote and said: ... I could really, really use a win in the writing department. It just seems like it's slipping through my hands. Every place I turn, I get a door shut in my face and I can't figure out why.

That's why I think people quit. It is so hard to keep going in the face of rejection, to keep banging against that door. To spend 6 months or a year or more writing a manuscript and polishing it and getting it critiqued and revising it and then submitting it and then... no sale. No agent. Back to the beginning. It just gets hard to keep going back for more.

And I think what it comes down to is, at some point you have to learn to write for yourself, and not just for publication. If it's only about the win, if it's only about other people, then you'll give up. It's too hard not to. I'm not saying all of that selling stuff isn't important, because it totally is. I'm just saying, at the end of the day, you have to write because you want to tell the story.

I'm always reminded of Diana Peterfreund saying when she wrote Secret Society Girl, her fifth manuscript, she wanted to write something that would fail in the contest circuit--something that broke all the rules. She had footnotes, lists, and spoke directly to the reader (*gasp*). She wrote that book because it was a story she wanted to tell, and it launched her career (as seen by the giveaways today!)

I took that attitude to heart when I wrote my most recent WIP. I was already in the middle of writing 2 other books when I started WIP.* I wrote the first line just to get it out of my head. And then, since I was stuck on the other 2, I kept writing. I decided I wanted to write this story for myself and for my boyfriend--it's set in a world he created. I loved this story. Of course, after about 20k I started to care about selling it (which threw me into a tailspin for about a month because I stopped writing for me and started thinking too much about the market). And now that WIP is done and is being critted (Thanks Erica!) I realize even if it doesn't sell (*gulp*) that I love this book. Unequivocally, I would not take back writing this book for anything.

Do I want WIP to sell? Heck yeah, man! To a certain degree, that's the point. But we have to love it, too. We have to love getting an email from a critique partner that says "this is fantastic" or getting a shout out on a critique partners blog. We have to love reading it out loud to our friends and loved ones and hearing them laugh (or get really turned on and say "you wrote that steamy scene?!"). We have to love that rush of losing time when we write and of becoming our characters: of being a tooth fairy, or a teenager, or a member of a secret society. You know, that feeling when you look up and realize you've been writing for what felt like 20 minutes but it's actually been two hours and you've written so many words that you just now realize how much your hands hurt. Or how you didn't even touch that glass of wine you poured to get you loosened up for writing.

These are the things we have to remember when we come face to face with that door. It really is true that the people who fail, who don't sell, are the ones who give up. Who can't face that door any more. It's times like that when you have to turn to yourself, to your friends, to your writing community. Go back and read your writing: remind yourself of how good you can really be (haven't we all read something and been like "huh, that's actually pretty good!"). Email your friends and say "help! I need a pep talk!" If you're lucky, maybe you'll get an email like the one Erica wrote here . Read the archives of a published author's blog--go back in time and experience her insecurities and fears and the the ebullience at selling. Join an online writing community and let them tell you about their own experiences, about how they kept pushing against that closed door. Email your significant other and let them blog about it :)~

I know, I know. Just like saying "those who suceed are the ones who never give up" is easier said than done, so is writing purely for the love of it. The truth of the matter is, it is so hard to face rejection. We all have to admit that. We all have our days when we just want to throw up our hands and ask why why why! Those days when it feels like the dream is slipping away and we're working so hard and not getting there. And we're allowed to have those days, it is not weakness or betraying the dream to say "dude, this rejection stuff really stinks!" We just can't give up because of them.

In the end, it may feel like we face that closed door alone, but we really don't. If you're reading this blog, you're already a member of a pretty cool community of writers--a wonderfully supportive group (just say hello in the comments and you'll see what I mean!). My boyfriend and I prop each other up all the time. We both get this--we both understand. But it's hard. And we whinge about it and then we get back to writing. That's how I wrote over 170,000 words last year and he wrote over 50 stories.

So keep pushing against the door, and when you get tired, let your friends help you push. You'll make it through. It's all about not giving up, of remembering why you love to write in the first place.

YOUR TURN: Let us know how you keep yourself writing. What keeps you going?

About those free books... in honor of this great blog and of writing for the love of writing, I'm giving away autographed copies of Diana Peterfreund's Secret Society Girl and Under the Rose. The 25th commenter gets Secret Society Girl and the 50th commenter gets Under the Rose.

Thanks for stopping by and reading! And thanks to the Manuscript Mavens for inviting me--y'all rock!


Happy Writing!
Carrie

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*while I think it is very important for beginning writers to finish a manuscript before moving on. First of all, it's an amazing accomplishment and a huge ego booster. Second of all, finishing a manuscript teachers a ton of important things about the process, etc. Third, you just gotta do it.