Welcome to Inspiration Fridays! In this series, I meditate on a quote from the current featured book. Today I’m talking about this quote from Jane Friedman’s The Business of Being a Writer:
“Many early career writing attempts are not publishable, even after revision, yet are necessary for a writer's growth. A writer who has just finished her first book or short work probably doesn't realize this, and may take the rejection process very hard. That's why publishing experts typically advise that writers start work on their next project: move on, and don't get stuck waiting to publish the first one.”
Writing that first manuscript and then dreaming about publication is a rite of passage every author passes through. It’s the first big milestone of a writing career, and it’s an exciting one—like a baby cutting their first tooth or taking their first steps. But it’s only the first milestone.
What a lot of writers fail to realize is that there are many, many milestones a writer needs to hit before their creative work reaches a marketable, publishable point. Just as we wouldn’t expect a baby to be ready to handle a chewy food right after that first pearly white peeks through, and we wouldn’t expect them to hike a mountain right after that first step, we shouldn’t expect our first attempts at writing a book to be ready to win the grueling marathon that is publishing. We shouldn’t expect ourselves to have a solid grasp on storytelling, a defined writing style, and a full understanding of our audience just yet.
The writers who succeed are those who understand that there are no shortcuts.
This is, I think, one of the most important mindset shifts that Friedman wants us to take from her book. Becoming a writer—a highly-skilled, publishable writer—takes time. The writers who succeed are those who understand that there are no shortcuts. The writers who don’t understand this plateau quickly, get stuck, and eventually abandon their writing altogether.
Even if that first manuscript just sits in cyberspace and you never look at it again, know that it served its purpose.
That isn’t to say that a first manuscript isn’t worth anything, even if you don’t write anything ever again. There's no such thing as wasted writing. We learn every time we write something new. We learn about ourselves, about the world, about the craft. We strengthen our creative muscles, little by little. So even if that first manuscript just sits in cyberspace and you never look at it again, know that it served its purpose, that it represents your first big foray into a new existence. You’ll never be the same after you’ve written that first book.
It also isn’t to say you shouldn’t even try to get that first manuscript published, especially if you go in expecting rejection—and a lot of it. You’ll learn a lot from that process, too. But really, the most important thing you can do after you finish that first manuscript? Learn what you can from it—get support from your cheerleaders and feedback from your critique partners and mentors to help you see your weaknesses—and then let it go. Write the next one.
Watch for more meditations on Jane Friedman’s The Business of Being a Writer, and happy writing!