IWSG December Post: Writers Remorse ?
December 6 question – As you look back on 2017, with all its successes/failures, if you could backtrack, what would you do differently?
There isn’t much I would do differently. To be honest, 2017 was filled with more success than failures. Sure, I got about 120 rejections for one of my novels, but in the end, I landed a contract with a great publisher.
If anything, I wish I had gotten brave enough to share my queries in Absolute Write’s query letter hell forum sooner, and had been a little more careful about proof reading some of my queries and samples. I do worry that the 20 or so queries I sent out for one of my projects, Like Birds Under the City Sky, were a waste because the project is currently shelved until I get into the right mindset to make the necessary revisions. Of course, there is a bright side to this. The editor who sent the R & R requesting the revision works for the publisher I signed Power Surge with.
My only other biggish regret has to do with the Publishizer crowd publishing campaign that I botched this summer and that wasn’t a total waste becuase it got me to complete manuscript #4, Earth Reclaimed, which one of my old friends who doubles as a CP claims is one of the best things I’ve written so far. Of course, the sample chapter shared in the publishizer page was an info dump filled with forced dialogue. I’ve composted and rewritten it several times now, and it is much better. I’m not sure if I will ever try crowd publishing again since I am not very social, but if I do, it will be with a complete and polished ms, not a WIP.
As far as writing goes, 2017 was a good year. However, if were to go into politics, identity, and mental health issues, well, then I would be telling a different story, but I doubt any of you want to hear about all the tiny little regrets I have about awkward things I said in conversations or snarky comments I shouldn’t have made on student papers.
The most important thing to do now is to learn from my mistakes and keep moving forward.