Thoughts on Annette's Thoughts

by Stephanie Black

I found yesterday’s guest blog thought-provoking. Annette Lyon is one of the writers I admire most. She’s a superb writer. She’s very successful—how many books is it now, Annette? Seven? Eight? I look at Annette and think . . . wow. She whips out bestselling books, one after the other, without breaking a sweat. Plus, she has awesome grammar. Show me a woman who knows how to use a semicolon, and we’ll be friends for life. But in reading her blog, I found out that Annette gets frustrated and discouraged. Who knew? She talks of competing with other authors who have the ‘Midas touch’—seemingly effortlessly pulling in the big sales. Wait a sec—I thought Annette was a Midas author. What’s the deal here?

I’m starting to wonder if the community of authors isn’t a lot like Relief Society. We all sit there in our Sunday best, eyeing the sisters on either side of us and thinking how perfect they are and how they have it all together while we bumble around, tripping over our shoelaces. Little do we know that they are eyeing us and thinking the exact opposite—that we’re the ones who are perfection personified and they’re the ones who struggle. We see each other’s outward successes, but we don’t see each other’s inward struggles.

The more I get to know authors individually, the more I find out that I’m not the only one who goes through bouts of discouragement and insecurity. Is it possible that . . . all of us experience those feelings?

Getting published is a tremendously exciting step, the fulfillment of a dream. You have a book on bookstore shelves! You’ve made it! But once you get on the other side of the gate, you find out that, as exciting as it is and as grateful as you are to be here, what you’ve made it to is another path. And there are plenty of boulders and muddy patches and detours on this path. Where you once agonized over getting that first book published, now you agonize over sales numbers and reviews. You agonize over your next book—can you do it again? One thing I didn’t realize before publication was how short a book’s shelf life can be—how quickly it will get bumped out of the limelight by newer books. It’s not enough to publish one book. You have to keep the books coming. No laurel-sitting allowed, or your writing career will fade away.

And what if your next book gets rejected? Pre-pub, I didn’t realize how common post-pub rejection is. Just because a publisher took your first book doesn’t mean they’ll take your second. Just because they took your first two doesn’t mean they’ll take your third. I thought it would get less stressful waiting to hear back on a submitted manuscript. It doesn’t, or at least it hasn’t for me. Waiting to hear back on a manuscript is my absolute least favorite part of being a writer. All that work, all that excitement, all that everything—and it can all collapse in the time it takes you to read the first few sentences of an e-mail. Not fun. And the stakes seem to get higher and higher. With each book, you’ve invested more and more in your writing career. You’ve got more fans, more expectations, more people asking, “So when is your next book coming out?” Post-pub rejection feels a lot like walking full-speed into a brick wall.

But beneath all the stress--and excitement--of the business side of things is the writing itself. I want to thank Annette for reminding me to enjoy the writing—to enjoy the process, the creative rush. I got into this business because I love to write. I love to create stories. When I start getting stressed about one thing or another, I need to stop and remind myself of this fact. So thanks, Annette.

(Which reminds me: I usually post blog and website info for guest bloggers when I post their blogs and I completely forgot yesterday. My apologies, Annette. Visit Annette's blog here and her website here.)