Coming off of a couple of days of reviewing unsolicited manuscripts, I am always inspired to say something. I don’t always know what to say, because the rate of good projects compared to the bad leaves me speechless. But I am hopeful nonetheless that this only reveals the path that even a rejected writer can take. I believe that if one door doesn’t open for me, I wasn’t supposed to go that way. This releases pressure off of me and gives me fewer choices to make. I like that about life. It’s not about the closed doors; it’s about exploring the ones that remain open.
I see this about writing and book publishing all the time. So many want it, but so few are actually supposed to get in.
Some of the pieces I review seem like they were drafted under much duress and struggle yet still never came to much. Almost like the writer forced it out. I have this one thought a lot, “You know, you really don’t have to write a book.” Yes, I understand things may have changed in the economy and that you may have been told your life story is amazing, but everyone is not meant to be an author or to have their story told. Economically speaking, a writer’s life can be pretty rough. So don’t let money be your motivation—at all. Writing is art. Art follows passion. And sometimes money and fame follow passion. But passion should be the driving force, not economics.
As hard as it is for our information-based society to face, everything does not have to be said, written, or reported. Sometimes a major life experience is just a major life experience. Sometimes, like Forrest Gump's famous line, that’s all there is to say about “that.”
Sometimes it really has all been said before. Month after month, I see the same kind of story retold. There’s no need to continue to fish for more to say on some topics. If you’re not coming up with a new and unique spin on an age-old topic, it really is like beating a dead horse. Let the dead horse lie. Walk away.
Then there are times when I wonder if what I see in front of me was just a necessary therapy for the writer himself to help heal past wounds. It’s OK if what you’ve written is just for you. You don’t have to make the first lengthy piece you write a book. Let it sit around for a minute. Live with it. Take it out for field trips or to a writer’s group for feedback. Don’t let it out of your sight until it matures. Then put it aside and write something else. More than anything, read books in the same genre you are aspiring to be published in. Compare and contrast what you’ve written with other works. Don’t write in a vacuum.
It’s Not a Book If…
- All you’ve done is write down all the rantings and ravings you’ve ever wanted to tell someone who hurt you, who is in a place you used to be, or who you feel needs Jesus.
- Most of what’s written is quoted verbatim from other sources and between every two or three very lengthy quotes you insert your two cents.
- You’ve only written thirteen MS Word pages. I think they call those pamphlets—or booklets, at the most.
- All you have are blow-by-blow feelings you had at different times in your life and what you may or may not have learned. That’s a diary.
- You have lots of short chapters with no unifying theme, no culminating path on which to lead your readers—just thoughts and ideas about various things. That might be material for a blog or a collection of magazine articles you could have sold.
What are some other things that can sometimes pose as books? Have fun with it. Almost like Jeff Foxworthy’s redneck jokes, yes?