© 2019 Jeff Adams
We don’t know what will happen tomorrow. We know what won’t happen if we keep doing what we’ve always done.
Sometimes our growth is imperceptible. Sometimes the growth we experience is better than the growth we expect. Remember the lines on the doorjamb? We couldn’t wait to see how much we’d grown. But a week or a month seldom reveals any difference. Sometimes a year goes by before we notice any change.
If you’ve been writing but you haven’t been published as much as you’d hoped, don’t quit. Look back at some of your previous work. You may need to go back three years—four—eight. Perhaps more. But at some point you’ll see the difference. You’ll read sentences that today you’d write differently.
One reason we don’t see the results we want is that we’re aiming at the wrong target. Or we’re not certain at which target we should shoot. Go to a bookstore. Look in the section with your genre, the one you love. Would the people who buy those books buy yours? If you’re not sure, maybe you haven’t identified your audience.
If you get a series of rejections from a magazine editor, maybe you need to reread their guidelines and look at recent issues—even if you’ve written for that publication before.
Perhaps you’re aiming too low or too small. Maybe it’s time to write for a larger audience. Maybe it’s time to write the sample chapters and submit your book proposal. Maybe it’s time to find an agent. Perhaps you need the help of an editor to organize your thoughts.
Do something different. Search a market guide for prospects. Join a new writers group. Query an editor you wrote for previously. Ask for a referral.
Writing isn’t easy. Getting published is difficult. But with growth, the pond becomes smaller. You become a bigger fish than you think. Don’t quit.
We’re familiar with the stories of famous authors who suffered repeated rejections but became household names. Theodor Geisel became Dr. Seuss. Success requires tenacity, perseverance, persistence, grit.
Anyone can quit. Don’t. The day you give up might be the day before the phone call comes. Tomorrow’s email might include an assignment from an editor. You might make a new connection.
In elementary school I couldn’t read. I never learned to type. Today I’m an award-winning, full-time author. Don’t quit one day too soon.
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Jeff Adams is a speaker, teacher, editor, and the author of Encouraging Words: Rebuilding Your Dreams. He has contributed to 25 books. His work has been translated into at least 33 languages in more than 100 countries to reach about 18 million people. As a substantive editor, he creates chapter-by-chapter synopses as part of ready-for-presentation book proposals. He lives in Arizona with Rosemary, his wife of 37 years.
