What Perseverance Really Means in Publishing

I’ve been thinking about perseverance a lot lately and whatit means in the context of publishing a novel. Since starting out on my writingjourney I looked at perseverance in the same way I approached and thought aboutpersistence. They are so similar it’s hard to find fault with that logic, butthere is a difference - a big one.

Let me explain.

In writing my first book I was persistent. It took years towrite and even more years to edit. Yes, you read that right. Years. And I thought I was doing itslowly, but the right way. One must keep whacking away at a story, fixing ituntil the day it’s correct and good enough for publication. I was persistent. Iwas also blinded by the idea that I could make it wonderful if I kept going. Iwasn’t yet a mature enough writer to realize that this might be perseverance inevery sense of the word, but it wasn’t the right perseverance for getting abook published.

Here’s what you need to know.

Perseverance in pursuit of publication is:

• Knowing when to move on

 You still have to finish your projects though.I’m not advocating for dropping a project when it gets hard.

• Knowingyou will get other ideas for stories

Ideas aren’t the hard part. A goodstory is all about execution anyway. The blandest idea can be craftedbrilliantly if written in the right way. And the longer you do this you beginto recognize an okay idea from a good idea from a great idea.

• Stillwriting through rejection and hardship

Rejection is hard, but if you havegotten a lot of it (like I have) look back at the project. Maybe it just needsmore polish. Or maybe you can take what you have learned and start somethingnew.

• Dedicatingyourself to improvement and building your craft

You see my first book was flawed. The basic pitch, the structure, the plot all had glaring errors I can now see clearly. There were some good things sure, but it wasn’t good enough for publication. It also was a book I thought up when I was fourteen. But I was so stuck in thinking this is how writers write (through editing and rewriting) that I never considered giving up on it. I took the advice to persevere and keep working on it. Now, I know my true perseverance was being brave enough to let that story go and start something new. That book taught me how to write a book. Sometimes that’s the only way to learn.

Above all, this is what I have learned: you have not failed by writing a bad book. In fact that’s natural. You only fail if you stop pursuing yourdream.

Parting note:

Know that moving on to another project is not quitting. Youhave not failed if a book you queried was rejected a thousand times. You havenot failed if you find yourself shelving a book. Don’t give up, but don’t getstuck on one idea. You’re a writer. Find your next adventure, build your voiceand keep writing.

I wish you all the best of luck.

Happy Writing!