AH, THE JOYS OF WRITING

Being an author can mean joy one minute and agony the next. It's not an easy job most of the time. Oh, there's nothing like the feeling of successfully publishing a book and holding that first copy in your hands... looking down at your name and feeling such a sense of accomplishment, Nothing quite compares.

On the other hand, when you write your heart out, complete the manuscript that you think is going to be "it"--the one that makes your mark in the literary world and you get rejected, it's a horrible, defeating feeling. You write in the same style you've always written, but the house to whom you've submitted doesn't like gerunds or adverbs. There isn't enough sexual tension, your characters aren't deep enough, but, oh you've done a great job of avoiding head hopping and your sentence structure is clean. One person can make or break your chance, and that's pretty disheartening.

What happened to panels? Shouldn't more than one person get to choose what's accepted and what's not. We all have such vast opinions. Who is that one person to tell me that my ending wasn't what she expected. Actually, that's what I was shooting for...an ending that no one saw coming. Oh well, it doesn't matter, now I have to decide what to do next.

First I have to dust off my feelings and remind myself that everyone gets rejections. Even the big dogs have binders of them. I don't. I've had the good fortune to have all except one story accepted on first try, so this was a bitter pill. The only other rejection I received was on my debut/swan song Erotica. The reason given: my heroine had an affair and some readers might find that offensive. This from a publisher who offers sex with werewolves, aliens, shifters and mummies, and most likely in any bodily orifice available, but something that happens every day in real life is offensive. Really? I'm pretty turned off by intimacy between a hairy beast with drippings fangs. Give me a choice of cheating or boffing an alien, and I have an affair any day. *lol* Luckily, my second query resulted in a contract, but as I said, Searchers was my one and only Erotica. They're just too hard to write. How many ways can you describe genitalia?

So, as I search through submission guidelines for a new place to submit my manuscript, I try to remain positive, knowing this story will please someone, somewhere. It's just tedious weeding through the jungle to find that one person who'll be in the right frame of mind when he/she reads my synopsis. Sometimes, being an author is like an mosquito bite you have a hard time scratching. It's annoying until you find the right way to contort yourself just enough to quell the itch. I sometimes have a hard time explaining why I continue to try to establish myself as an author, and answers aren't always forthcoming, especially if I'm stressed and tired. I usually fall back on the real reason I keep typing away... because I love what I do, and I can't wait to see where I'll travel with the characters in my next novel or story.