Over the last month I've heard a lot of complaints about how bad the year 2016 has been, and many predictions for a worse 2017. In the US, I imagine most of that has to do with the disappointments of The Affordable Care Act (aka ObamaCare) and the election. And the escalating terrorism. These things disturb me also. But, since I'm not in a position affect any changes to these very large issues, I just accept them, and concentrate on my own life. Pacifist, I know.
I've had so many life changes over the last couple years, my priorities have drastically altered.
2016 wasn't such a bad year for me. Life has become steady, manageable. Even FUN. I'm enjoying my new career, I love the traveling. I'm reconnecting with family. And while I did not have any publications, I did more writing than in 2015. Hopefully, I'll write more in 2017, and perhaps have a publication or three. One can dream, lol.
Congratulations to everyone accepted into this year's IWSG Anthology. Well done.
As with any activity, writing comes with rules, and rule books. When I first started seriously writing about ten years ago I read a lot of books on writing. And a lot of blogs about writing rules. For a while, I tried to follow them all. The more rules I read, the more they became contradictory to each other. Eventually I discovered that there are very few rules that cover everything - every genre, writing style, or publishing media. I learned to research the "guidelines" specific to the genre of whatever story I'm writing, and where I hope to publish it.
This month's IWSG question is: What writing rule do you wish you’d never heard?
Oh my, let me count them, lol. Actually, I've forgotten most. But there is one that pretty much applies to every form of writing and goes something like: Do not re-query an Agent/Agency with a work that they rejected. Unless the rejection came with an invitation to rewrite and resubmit.
My writing has come a long ways since I queried my first novel. I'd like to go back and resubmit the new version of that novel to a couple of the Literary Agencies that rejected it. Perhaps the rewrites would gain some interest. Its been ten years since that first round of queries. The novel (now a trilogy) like me as an author, is unrecognizable from its original version.
Rules were made to be broken; perhaps one day I'll break this one. What's one more rejection against the possibility of acceptance.
Even the Insecure Writers Support Group comes with rules.
Posting: The first Wednesday of every month is officially Insecure Writer’s Support Group day. Post your thoughts on your own blog. Talk about your doubts and the fears you have conquered. Discuss your struggles and triumphs. Offer a word of encouragement for others who are struggling. Visit others in the group and connect with your fellow writer - aim for a dozen new people each time - and return comments. This group is all about connecting! Be sure to link to this page and display the badge in your post. And to thank and link to your host Alex J Cavanaugh, and this month's co-hosts: Eva @ Lilicasplace, Crystal Collier, Sheena-kay Graham,Chemist Ken, LG Keltner, and Heather Gardner.
HAPPY NEW YEAR!! See y'all around the blogs.
32 comments:
Definitely break that one. Rewriting that first novel would be like writing a whole new one and therefore something the agency hasn't seen. I say do it.
Just accepting those things isn't being pacifist. It's called getting over it and moving on. We have to know which battles to take on and which to let go because they're either outside of our reach or have already been fought.
Welcome to 2017!
Obamacare will be nixed soon anyway.
I keep track of submissions and I've had people submit the same thing repeatedly with no changes. Those are obvious. But 10 years and changes? I'd give it shot.
Happy New Year, Donna! Nice to hear your year was nice and steady, here's to the new one being like that too
Go ahead and break that rule, Donna. The agent may not even remember the initial query and you have nothing to lose.
Belated Happy New Year, Donna!
We have to ignore such things sometimes and accept them to keep us sane. Pffft to that rule, break it indeed.
I have certainly re-queried agents/agencys when a year or more passed and my story (and even query letter) changed drastically. They get so many queries and send so many rejections that they'd most likely not even realize it. Except for L. Diane. LOL ;)
WILD THING ~
Rules rule!!
Yes, rules are there for a reason and I don't believe in breaking any of them. Breaking rules makes a "cheater" of a person, and we all know that cheating is wrong. The Primordial Soup said so!
I thought 2016 was actually pretty good. Of course, I was drunk all year, so that would explain my opinion of it.
Donna, I hope your 2017 is as staggeringly good as my 2016 was.
~ D-FensDogG
DogGtor of Alcohology &
King of Inebriation Nation
Rules ate meant to be broken, just ask me, I've broken them all! :)
Glad you liked 2016 - so did I, well, except for the political thing! But hell that's life!
Happy 2017!
Yes, yes, yes, resubmit!
Most rules are really guidelines. I'd use common sense in applying any of them.
Psssh, most of those agents/editors get so many queries I bet they wouldn't even notice if you sent the same project again, completely rewritten, years later. Rules like that are definitely made to be broken. What's the worst that could happen - they just say no, stop sending this?
May your 2017 be full of good things and good words!
Ah $h*t blogger ate my comment. I'll be back tomorrow. My back hurts too bad to sit in this chair any longer. Glad to see you back,
Alex: 'pick your battles' is a good motto.
L Diane: Can't imagine someone resubmitting without changes.
Dezzy: Happy new year to you too :)
Rachna: right!
Pat: Sanity can be over-rated; but not in this case.
Chrys: Diane would be the exception, lol.
Saint Mac: you follow the rules? Really?? Hmm . . . I spent too much time drunk myself in 2016. I'm thinking I should make that Dead Duck drink a tradition.
Yolanda: yeah, the political thing was a farce. But, must move on.
Olga: some days, common sense for me is whatever I want at the moment, lol. I've earned that - sometimes.
Beers: right! I'm sure there will be more words in 2017.
Hi Donna. It's a long time since I read your novel. I'd like to read it again if you'd like me to. I say resubmit. These guys won't remember you anyhow. Sure, there are rules, but they're not as important as good timing and good luck. Go girl! The best for 2017!
Hi, Donna,
DEFINITELY re submit.... They get thousands of queries a week and most of them are read by assistants which certainly come and go.
Happy NEW YEAR!!!
WIshing you all the best for 2017!
FAE: lol. I learned long time ago to copy my comment before hitting publish/post. That way, when (not if) blogger eats my comment I don't have to totally rewrite it a second time.
Dx: oh, thank you. I still have some editing to do- deleting a lot of the explicit sex - but what you read might be most of the re-writes from the original. Been so long though, I just don't know what you read :)
Thanks Michael :)
Hi Donna - so glad you've had a good year and are settled in a happy life existence - always helpful ... good luck with this year and all it holds - sounds like life is going up ... enjoy and cheers for a Happy 2017 - Hilary
From what I read when I was still querying, you can resubmit six months to a year after a rejection, as long as you're pretty sure that the agent in question won't realize that they've seen the exact same project before.
So, I think you should be fine. :-)
I'm glad you had such a good 2016 and I'm sure 2017 will be even better! I think it would be really interesting to resubmit and see what happens.
Most times I do write my comments in word and save them, especially the wordy ones, but alas, I was in a hurry to get around and visit as many people as possible. Ha! After this fiasco I go up completely and didn't make it to another blog. I can be a real pill that way.
Anyway,everything I had said ha already been said. I agree that you should resubmit your novel. So much has changed over time for both you and agents/publishers who knows what could happen.
Glad you had a good 2016, I pretty much felt the same. Looking forward to an even better 2017. Talk to you soon. Stay safe out there on the road.
A steady, comfortable life is a good thing, imho. And the fun's just the frosting. :D Happy New Year!
Happy Belated New Year!
I try to live by the 'know the rules to break them' motto. Some rules are are made to be broken. If a reasonable or lengthy amount of time has passed since the initial submission, submit again. You've got nothing to lose.
Re-submitting is a great idea. Your book may be very different now that when you first started writing.
Thanks for dropping in on me. I suppose there will always be at least one publisher we'd all love to re-submit to.
2016 wasn't so bad for me either. =) Actually, it was pretty great...despite it all.
I'm with you on the rules. So many are just guidelines rather than actual rules, and they do change based on your genre.
Requerying? You know, if you've got a completely different pitch and title, I say go for it. Titles are just a placeholder anyway--until a publisher gets their hands on the book.
I would resubmit it, if I were you.
2016 was a mixed bag, for me. I published two books, but my brother in law died. Life goes on.
I can't think of any advice I wish I hadn't heard. I'm good at ignoring advice!
Love that 2016 brought you so much good, Donna! May 2017 triple it—or even quadruple it :) I've been somewhat absent from the blogosphere (that's one of my 2017 goals: freakin' STAY WITH THE BLOG, haha), so this was a good post for me to catch up with you. Yay for breaking rules... No rule worth the name is also not worth breaking ;)
Guilie @ Quiet Laughter
I'm glad to be hear about someone being happy. I told my husband I feel content. I'm low keyed worried about the future where my children are concerned, but I think they have the tools to deal with whatever comes.
I think if you've put a lot of changes into a work, it qualifies as a new work...so send it. :)
Glad to hear you're doing well. I stopped allowing myself to be pulled into the political drama. I suppose I'm a pacifist too.
Of course you can break that rule! I'm sure with all the work you've done on the manuscripts they could be considered new works.
I'm glad you had a wonderful 2016. Let's clink glasses to a fabulous 2017!!
Thanks everyone for stopping by. See y'all on Wednesday for Feb IWSG.
I'm glad to see you've been able to connect with family! I'd love to do more of that myself :)
Rules are definitely made to be broken, but you did it the right way in learning them and understanding them first. You have to know when and which ones to use, and why you're breaking a rule. Ten years is a really long time. I'm willing to bet many of the agents you queried are not even with those agencies anymore, so you could query. I've discovered 2 ways to get an agent. I got accepted by a small publisher and that made the agents sit up and take notice, lots of requests for fulls flooded in. I was basically offering them a portion of my profits and all they had to do was be the intermediary. Plus, I didn't give up and had queried about 150 over the years. (My agent and I since parted ways.) Good luck!
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