- I'm on a roll. I wrote 5 poems today - but they're not very good yet
- I average 10 pages a day - but they're not very good yet
- Oh that novel's on the back burner now, not quite finished. I'm starting a new one - you have to finish a novel to get it published
- I thought, I can write better than ...(fill in the blanks here) - but they did it first
- I mean, how hard can it be? - very
- My mum/kids/best friend loves it and she/they/he reads a lot - unless they work in publishing, this doesn't help
- I have the cover sorted already - not going to happen, unless you self publish
- I was thinking Ashton Kushter for the lead when they make it into a film - yeah right
- What does an agent do for you anyway? - quite a lot
- I was never any good at spelling. I let the spellchecker/grammar checker handle that for me - eh no.
- The editor can fix the punctuation, that's what they're for, right? - eh no
- It's Twilight meets Upstairs Downstairs meets The Artist - no it's not
- How much of an advance should I expect?- very very little for a first time novelist, nothing for a poetry collection
- I've given up the day job - please no
- No I don't ever read any modern poetry - how can you write it then?
- No I don't read in the genre I'm writing in - how can you write it then?
- I've finished it today. Can I email it to you? - eh no
- I know the rules said 2,000 words but they're only guidelines. 3,000 is fine. - No it's not
The struggles of an emerging writer to get published. What exactly is it that I'm emerging from? Some kind of primeval literary goo?
Hahahahahaha.... Brilliant! "How hard can it be?" is priceless. One I heard from a real-life published (self) author was "I always hated reading. Only started reading last year, when I started writing." Yeah... Not good.
ReplyDeleteExcellent post!
Anything to do with editing! "I think you can edit too much." (Yeah. Happens all the time with first-time writers. *Never* happens that they edit too little, no sirree.)
ReplyDeleteThanks Guilie - you hear some of these too often
ReplyDeletePainfully true, Claire!
ReplyDelete