Enjoy the Little Things

Hey there. As you probably know, the road to publication can be a long one. When you are writing and polishing, submitting and waiting, not a whole lot of tangible things happen. Yes, you have put words on the page. Lots of words! But if you're like me, you aren't showing them to anyone. If you're not careful it can make you feel like you are not doing anything because there is nothing for anyone to see! Or worse, you can feel like you are failing and that is not good for writing great things.

Here's the thing, a published book is but one of the positive things that can happen for you as a writer. Sure, a published book or agent can feel like the golden prize that we're all trying to reach. But there are lots of positives along the way that you need to recognize. They are the things that will keep you going along the long road!

Here are some things that you should pat yourself on the back for:

• Coming up with something great: a title, character, sentence, etc. Yes!
• Finding the perfect word you needed. Uh-huh!
• Finishing a draft. Sweet!
• Completing a revision. Even sweeter!
• Positive things your critique partners say about your work. Woohoo!
• Figuring out a problem you had in your writing. Phew!
• Submitting your polished work. Yay!
• Getting to go have fun at a conference. Yippee!
• Great writer friends. The bomb! 

And of course these are things to hold onto that should tell you that yes, you are doing things right:

• Personalized rejections. They don't send these to everyone!
• Invitations to send more work. They like your style!
• Revision requests. They believe you created a piece that might work in their publishing program!
• Agent interest. An agent thinks they may be able to sell your work! 

Nope, you can't control these last things but if you get something of this nature, don't forget it. Pull it out and reread it when you are wondering why you are spending so much time on this writing thing. 

Either way, remember the positives! Go write some more great sentences. Find that perfect word. And chat it up with your writer friends. You can usually find me blabbing away at Sub It Club or on twitter. ;)