Elizabeth Lyon's Top 10 Reasons to Keep Writing

  1. Rejection? Pah, they don't know what they're doing. They've obviously made a mistake. I'll try again.

  2. Rejection? Oh-oh--they do know what they're doing, and I need to revise and try again.

  3. I am a writer; that is what I do--publishing is secondary.

  4. At last I have my first merit badge. Like every other writer who has succeeded and gone before me, I now have a rejection letter! Yahoo! Let's celebrate.

  5. Most people who succeed have enough rejection letters to paper a wall; I only have my first one. I'd better get busy and send out more manuscripts!

  6. Writing is an art as well as a craft. Art takes time. I will learn craft and refine my art. The rejections will come but I take no heed. One day, my mastery of craft and art will come together and publication will happen. When it does, I'll barely notice; I'll be immersed in my next manuscript.

  7. Marketing is a whole skill set too. While I learn how to write, I will keep marketing so that my skills at marketing will become professional as well.

  8. Recalibrate your mental sites: Don't aim for publishing; instead write to make a specific difference in the lives of your readers. When you begin to write based on an intention to entertain, inform, persuade, or inspire your readers, your writing will become more focused and successful. Writing to publish--or make money--rarely succeeds.

  9. If you are extra sensitive to rejection, ask or hire someone to market your manuscripts while you keep writing. Make your job to supply enough manuscripts to have 12 circulating at any given time. That'll keep you busy! When one is accepted, you'll need another to replace it. When one is rejected, it must be sent out to somewhere else to keep 12 "balls" in the air. This system WORKS!

  10. Life is short. The rule book got lost. We figure things out by trial and error. We learn more by our mistakes than by our successes, though the successes are sweet. For every one rejection, list ten things that you did well with the individual piece of writing. Build on your positives and shore up your mistakes. Remember, the tortoise wins the race. Cultivate patience and a good sense of humor. Laugh at your rejections--and learn from them. Why would you get upset or worse, stop writing, over a rejection letter? As Dr. Phil would say, "Get real!" Know that one finish line becomes another starting line. There is no arrival; only the journey.

(c) Copyright 2005, Elizabeth Lyon.

    Prolific author, professional editor, businesswoman, and teacher, Elizabeth Lyon has been a contributor to Writer's Digest and The Writer magazines, and other publications. She is the author of Nonfiction Book Proposals Anybody Can Write, The Sell Your Novel Tool Kit, and in the Writer's Compass series, A Writer's Guide to Nonfiction, and A Writer's Guide to Fiction. Her latest book is National Directory of Editors & Writers: Freelance Editors, Copyeditors,Ghostwriters,Technical Writers, and Proofreaders--for Individuals,Businesses, Nonprofits, and Government Agencies.. Her official site is at http://www.elizabethlyon.com/

 

From the Interview with Catherine Tudor at One Woman's Writing Retreat.
http://www.prairieden.com/interviews/lyon.php
(c) Copyright 2005. Prairie Den Publishing, LLC.