Don’t Believe Everything You Think!

Writing your first novel-Some things you should know, ,

imagesEX1UP1B8I’m preparing to send my manuscript out to literary agents again. This is the second time it is going out, the first time resulted in rejections, so I have to admit I’m a little apprehensive.

I saw a blog I had written almost a year ago and decided to republish it. It is exactly where I am right now and serves as a reminder to control my inner critic. You know, the one that tells you your work isn’t good enough or ready to be sent out. Most of us writers have one.

No one wants to be humiliated or rejected. Your inner critic will paralyze you by telling you just how bad your work really is (even if it’s not) .  Don’t listen!!! If you’ve gotten this far, you have hopefully addressed all areas that could be in question, and the novel should be pretty doggone close to perfect. If you haven’t done you due diligence and know your work has flaws, fix them before sending it out-common sense right.

I remember doing a Bible study on the battlefield of the mind. Though it’s primary purpose was dealing with spiritual warfare, it also related to many of the issues that we deal with in our everyday lives. Our mind is a battlefield. In writing for example, all of us worry about looking dumb and never getting published. Fiction writers make a business out of being scared, and not just looking dumb.

It took me six months from the time I started writing my novel, to tell my husband what I was doing. When I finally told him, I was a mess. I knew he would be excited for me and encourage me in my endeavor, and I didn’t want to let him down.

For the longest time I treated my novel as a hobby. That’s not a mindset that will get you published. When I finished and sent it out to literary agents, I was more than a little anxious, but the first few rejections confirmed my beliefs. I just wasn’t good enough.

Note that I said, “I wasn’t good enough.” Well that’s not exactly true. The truth is the novel wasn’t good enough. The fact is, it was filled with grammatical and structural errors, there was some serious head hopping going on, and my on-the-nose writing was all but bringing the story to a complete halt.

I don’t know that the inner critic will ever go away. So how do you combat it? You keep moving forward and growing in your craft. Don’t stop writing. I still question my novel, but I know, that I know ,that I know, that it’s a lot better than it was after the unofficial first draft. I’ve learned the hard way and hope you avoid some of my pit falls.

-Jan R

Don’t Believe Everything You Think!

13 thoughts on “Don’t Believe Everything You Think!”

  4. I love this post. I, too, am getting ready to send my scripts out. I usually don’t have any responses, but that doesn’t mean that my books aren’t good. It’s a scary thing to put your personal work out there. Hopefully all the work will have been worth it.

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  6. It’s terrifying, isn’t it? I”m about to do my first round of submissions and I keep going back and forth between, “I love this story! I’ve worked hard, and it’s ready,” and “I hate this story! It’s all rubbish!!!” Lol.
    Way to go for round two, and for putting so much work into your writing 🙂 Here’s hoping you find the right fit this time around!

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  7. I’m right there with you. I’ve revised my novel after the first round of rejections & sent it out to another 10 agents. We must silence the inner critic, it’s tough but it can be done. And we’re constantly growing in our craft, it’s a good thing to finally notice those grammatical errors. It was only a short while ago that I was completely oblivious. Hard work does pay off. 😁

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