Comments on: The In Between

By: Shelli Stevens

Shelli Stevens — Wed, 23 May 2007 17:56:06 +0000

Great post. I hear you, I wonder if I’ll ever be happy. I love to make a goal and seek a higher one. See it’s all a matter of perspective. Because where you’d like to be where Jaci is and other similar writers, my next goal is your level now… unless I got hit with the lucky stick and sold to NY tomorrow and became a best seller in two years!

By: Karen Erickson

Karen Erickson — Wed, 23 May 2007 16:54:06 +0000

I’m glad you blogged about this because I’m feeling the same way right now. I have submissions out there I’m waiting to hear on and I watch other authors with so much success and I get envious. I’m not gonna lie. I’m happy for them and jealous at the same time. That’s just human nature.

I admire your hard work and your writing Lauren - I’m gonna sound like a cornball but you’ll get there! But I understand your feelings - this business is tough, but there’s no where else I’d rather be.

By: Anne

Anne — Wed, 23 May 2007 13:51:15 +0000

Sigh. I haven’t even sold yet. My manuscript is out there in front of NY publishers and has been since April, but I haven’t heard a word. I still wonder if that’s a good thing or a bad thing, and it IS frustrating as hell.

By: Kristen

Kristen — Wed, 23 May 2007 13:30:56 +0000

I can relate, although I rarely post anything like this on my own blog because I’m loathe to admit how I feel sometimes. Still, I completely understand.

By: Collette

Collette — Wed, 23 May 2007 04:50:26 +0000

Lauren, I like that you shared this–it’s important to me to hear all aspects of the writing process as it’s something in which I am quite interested. (I wrote “ups and downs” but ups doesn’t look right, does it? Makes me think of UPS. I digress.) I am currently in a waiting game myself–waiting to be “chosen” as adoptive parents. It’s a balancing act between being excited and hopeful, wanting to be protective of your feelings and wanting to scream out the window because it’s so overwhelming and WHY DOESN’T SOMETHING JUST HAPPEN???? Makes me feel not quite so alone even though our balancing act is for different things. So thanks.

By: Charlene

Charlene — Wed, 23 May 2007 00:38:44 +0000

Ciar, Julia Cameron mentions that stage in The Right to Write. I’ve been through it at least twice. It sucks when you hit that, but then suddenly you get past it and everything comes together at a new level.

By: Ciar Cullen

Ciar Cullen — Tue, 22 May 2007 23:51:24 +0000

What a great post. And there are folks like me who look at you, and your hard work and great books, and NY sale, and think “gosh, what will I have to do to get THERE?” I think the in-between (and they come at every stage is my guess) is hard for any endeavor.

Can I wax on/wax off poetic? I learned something in martial arts. Just before I was about to get much, much better at something, everything would start to feel awful–awkward, too slow, too hard. I learned to welcome that feeling, because I knew I was about to break through to a new level. My internal spirit, or whatever you want to call it, was no longer satisfied with the status quo.

May you be at one of those wonderful crossroads that don’t feel good until you’re on the other side!

By: Charlene

Charlene — Tue, 22 May 2007 22:15:17 +0000

It took a little more than half an hour. But thank you.

This is a career with ups and downs. Overall hopefully there’s an upward progression, but nobody’s going to be flying high all the time. Some of my favorite authors, amazingly successful authors, have been out of contract for a time.

I think you have to think in two directions. You have to think like a business and plan like a business and work like a business. And you have to think like an artist and follow your gut instincts and be true to your creative vision. And I don’t think the two are mutually exclusive. To quote Lawrence Block, “You can sell without selling out.”

But the thing I think most people don’t realize in the beginning is that as hard as it is to get published, it’s just as hard or harder to stay published. This isn’t an easy job, but it’s the only one I want.

By: Ann(ie)

Ann(ie) — Tue, 22 May 2007 21:44:36 +0000

Boy, does it ever. When Guide was making the rounds in NY with my former agent and I was hearing what a great writer I am and how they love this, that, or the other, but just not enough to BUY it, that was heartbreaking.

By: Jaci Burton

Jaci Burton — Tue, 22 May 2007 21:00:10 +0000

Some authors sell on the first pitch in like half an hour (CHARLENE TEGLIA, JACI BURTON - hmpf, if y’all weren’t so lovely and talented I’d hate you.)

First, thank you. You are so sweet.

Second, *snort* on selling on the first pitch. So didn’t happen that way. Actually I had a couple proposals out there that received that ‘um, we kinda don’t like this very much’ response from editors.

In fact, at the same time Surviving Demon Island was getting bids at auction, I was receiving rejections on it from other editors who didn’t like it at all. So it’s all a matter of the right book hitting the right editor’s hands at the right time.

I’ve been where you are, at that in between stage. It’s both exciting and frustrating as hell.

You have the talent. It’s just a matter of timing, darlin. It’ll happen for you. Hang in there and have faith.

And when it does, I’m coming back to say “See? Told ya so.”