I'd Be Published, but . . .

Some of you may know I write a blog about publishing called wannabepublished. One of the most popular series I did was called, "I'd be published, but . . . " I'll take the next several posts to revivethis series for you because I think these worries/excuses/stresses are universal to all writers. So without further ado, here is the first installment:

This entry comes from Amy:

I'd like to be published, but . . . I haven't finished the first draft of my current novel yet, and it's the first one I've felt confident enough about to actually submit. On top of that, I would love to submit this year, but I'm going to be in my third year of university next year and writing my dissertation as well as taking my professional exams, and I don't think publishers take kindly to 'sorry I missed my deadline, I had to revise', nor would my examiners take kindly to the reverse. C'est la vie. I'll submit when I've finished university May 2009, and by then hopefully I'll have the strongest novel I could possibly produce, as well as one or two more in the pipeline.

There are a lot of different reasons here, Amy. (Hmm, do I sound like Dear Abby yet?)

First, I love that you know that your other books haven't been ready. That's a first huge step as a writer. So often I go to writing conferences and I meet eager writers who thrust their unfinished, non-ready manuscripts my way, hoping I'll declare them perfect and recommend them to my agent. But their manuscripts are shoddy, not ready for the world of publishing. So, Amy, I want to commend you for your honesty.

You're right. You obviously need to finish that novel. Work at it when you can, which leads me to the rest of your post. Sometimes life conveniently and inconveniently gets in our way of writing. In your case, I'd say it's convenient because what you are learning and doing will greatly further your writing career down the road.

Think of now as foundation building. So many writers skip this process, then they wonder why their writing house of cards comes tumbling down. It reminds me of a story.

When we moved to East Texas from Seattle, we attended a small, up and coming church. The church was full of energy, based solely on the charisma of the pastor. Problem was: he eventually left, taking his charisma with him. The entire structure of the church was based on his personality. My husband had to step into this place and start working backwards to develop good foundations (mission statements, vision statements, etc.). He helped hire a new pastor. That pastor is now building on the foundation Patrick built and the church is growing.

As writers, we sometimes base our careers on our personality or gifts, forgetting that the grunt work of a career starts when no one is looking. It's unglamorous work, folks. I wrote in obscurity for over a decade because my circumstances (named Sophie, Aidan and Julia) kept my focus on them. But NONE of that is ever wasted. When you're writing in the wilderness, you are building on your foundation. That's what Amy is doing right now. She's writing, but she's also recognizing that she has a degree to finish, a dissertation to write.

My recommendation for Amy: Keep at it. Excel in your dissertation. Be a great student. Write your novel when you can. None of this is wasted. And when you finish your novel, let us know here so we can rejoice with you.