I think that's always a question new writers ask themselves. When is your work of art, the pride and joy you've put so much hard work and effort into...when is it ready to be sent off to a publisher or agent to be read and determined if it's "the one" they want?
I'm sort of going through this right now. Nearly a year ago, I finished DON'T GO BREAKING MY HEART. Yes, I did set it aside for a few months and then worked on polishing it, but still, I see other writers who will type "The End" and then send it off the next day to a publisher. Keep in mind, I'm referring to the unpubbed writers, not the contracted ones who are so good at what they do, that when it's done, it's ready to be sent off. Am I the only one who has to go through her work and make sure that passive is changed to active and there are no dangling modifiers? The other part of me says that my writing must be lousy and why am I trying to fool myself into thinking I'll ever be published? Especially if my rough draft is just that--rough.
But then the other part of me reminds me that I did final in two contests, something that is rarely done by rookie writers like me. Not that I can compare myself with a brilliant, about to be published rising star, but gosh....maybe do I have some talent? Perhaps enough to get me published? Or, did I just have a good scene that caught the eye of the judges? I don't know.
However, whatever happens, when I do submit my work to a publisher, it will be because it is shined and spiffed up and done to the best of my abilities whatever that may be.
2 comments:
At this point in your career, you want that first submission to be polished to a brilliance, so you're right not to rush the process. Of course you don't want to be one of those people who are forever polishing, either. There's a point when you have to let go. Having second thoughts is natural, even to multi-published authors. I don't know if I've ever sent in a book that I couldn't have tweaked just one more time.... :-)
Right now I'm working on Don't Go Breaking My Heart and fleshing it out some. It is fleshable. LOL.
One that's done, then I can think about submitting. One thing about contests is that they only see part of your work and so it's hard to say the whole manucript will be any good.
Really weird, but I'm finding mistakes as I go along. Not a lot, but enough to make me cringe. At the rate I'm going, I *could* be bold enough to enter it in the GH. But, do I want to pay the fifty bucks when all I get is a score back?
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