The Writing Journey
Every writer has a path to publication. It’s something you hear at every conference and workshop. It’s always under the guise of “how to get published”.
Inevitably, the speaker/writer will share with you their path to publication, and generally, it comes with the warning “Don’t do it the way I did. Look at my mistakes.”
I’ve noticed over time that they all really are the same story, just slightly different details.
Stage 1: I want to be a writer - the early days
This is when you first consider writing. This is a long stage. There may even be a level of success in this stage. Maybe the writer won a contest. But the writer wasn’t serious or a life event happened, but lots of time passed. Maybe the writer wrote a really bad novel that no one will ever see, but they still have it. Regardless, they were interested, but not serious.
For me, I was probably fourteen and was reading a David Eddings fantasy novel.
I thought about the novel I would write. I plotted it in my head and with my best friend. I wrote scenes of that novel and other novels, but I never completed one. It was hard work for a 14 year old. I liked computers a lot, too. I headed in that direction.
Stage 2: I want to be a writer - I’m ready to get serious. I’m going to do this.
The writer thinks they are serious. They think they are ready. They are going to write a novel. They are going to get published.
Something happened. Someone said something. A family member passed. Their children went to school and they were in the house all alone. Something made them turn back to writing.
For me, I hit this stage about 4 years ago. My mom had retired from teaching. She had written poetry before. She decided to write a book. She did and she got published. Around the same time, I had a wife, a son, a house, and a job. The next thing you do is plan retirement. My mom writing seemed like the absolute best use of retirement. So, I figured I would start writing and be a published writer by the time I retired.
In this stage, I have been going to workshops and conferences, getting some writing done, finishing some short stories, starting lots of novels, learning a lot about the business, finding my own process.
Stage 3: I’m not sure.
They aren’t serious. They only think they are serious. This is where you’ll hear what their day job was. What was happening with their parents, their kids. It took them 8 years to write that novel. They start entering contests regularly. They learn about the business.
It’s a tough stage. There’s a period in it that you give up or put your writing on hold or think that you can’t do it. They keep trying, but nothing is clicking and they are unsure. It’s what makes stage 3 particularly difficult.
I’m probably somewhere inbetween 2 and 3 right now, as I write this. It makes it sort of entertaining to write, since if I can step back, I can see the stage. It’s also humorous that I am attempting to give out writing advice. Really, it is just regurgitated knowledge, gleaned from others.
Stage 4: Success - the first
Yippee! Published! They have arrived! This could be a number of things. Maybe they started getting some short stories published. Maybe it was a first novel. It’s very exciting. In no time, they’ll be quitting that day job.
This hasn’t happened for me yet.
Stage 5: Failure - the first.
And then things went wrong. Maybe the success was that book they wrote for 8 years and now the publisher wants to see the next book in ONE? Maybe they signed a bad contract. Maybe the book got orphaned. Maybe the editor hacked the thing and being a first time writer, they let the editor make a mess out of it. Maybe it was a bad cover. Maybe they sold three books and the numbers declined until bookstores refused to buy them. Maybe they couldn’t make the transition from short story to novel. Maybe they believed their own hype and couldn’t finish anything anymore. Maybe they quit their day job and then ran out of money. Maybe it was only small press that did very little with it.
The sophmore slump. It happens. Everyone talks about it.
Stage 6: The rebirth
This is where they come back. They learned so much from their failures. Some magical event happened. A coincidence. And suddenly they are back.
It’s pretty much like this from then on. Failure: Rebirth: Failure: Rebirth/reinvention for the remainder of the career. Oh, it might be smooth sailing for a while, but something will come along. Just listen to all the long time writers tell their journey. You’ll hear it and you’ll notice that they are cautious about their current good fortune.
And then there are the writers who wrote a bestseller, first book out of the gate and never looked back, and they’ll tell you they were lucky - or maybe they were just prepared…
And that, in a nutshell, is the writer’s journey. I probably missed something. I’ll update this as I get to the latter stages. I certainly hit the first few and am swimming in the middle of 2B, and from everyone I talk to, I’m right on the money.
I wish you the instant success and all the problems which come with that.
