When the Path to Publication...

...Enters the Deep Forest

If you’ve been following my previous two posts, you’ve seen the power of persistence, combined with passion, and, oh, by the way, learning the craft of writing and how to navigate the publishing industry. Those are some of the stepping stones that you need on your path to publication, so they bear repeating:

·      Persistence

·      Passion

·      Knowledge of writing craft

·      Knowledge of publishing industry

But there are a couple more stepping stones on the path, and you may find at first that this next one is harder to come by, possibly running through the deep forest of doubt.

Nah-uh, not giving that one away yet!

Even after my little Get Organized book was born, I was still trying to write fiction and find an editor or agent, seeking my real dream – to be published as a fiction writer. I’d discovered how hard picture book writing can be (yup, it really is, and more on that in some future posts), so I started learning all I could about writing for young adults. The middle grade age range was still ill-defined – this was pre-Harry Potter – so “kidlit” was strongly in the YA camp.

Meanwhile…I had gotten very involved in SCBWI, to the point of becoming a Regional Advisor in my small Texas region.

I had an idea for a YA novel that was born out of my love (did I mention passion?) for Montana and the Yellowstone region, plus my recent loss of my mom (ahem, passion again) so I wrote a draft. I polished it and thought it might be ready to submit, so I send it to an agent that I’d met at an SCBWI conference and had an invitation to sub based on attendance at said conference.

Her name is Erin.

She rejected my novel, but wrote a very nice letter telling me why, and also how I could fix things (in a general way, but still. A lovely personal letter.) I revised, and revised again.

Two months later and still deep in revisions, I was contacted by another Texas RA in San Antonio – they were holding a conference in October and as a fellow RA I could attend gratis. The conference was two weeks out. I signed up and asked, oh, by the way, could I pay for a manuscript critique with one of their guest agents or editors? Nope – they were all sold out.

A week and a half later I got a hurried email – one critique slot had opened up, for my novel’s first ten pages, and did I still want it?

I had no time to even re-read those pages. I attached and hit send.

Three days later I learned that my critique would be with Alyssa Eisner Henkin, a Simon and Schuster editor. I was excited and nervous. A major editor at a major house.

Right before we met and during her presentation at the conference Alyssa announced she was leaving S&S to become an agent.

Shoot, I thought, disappointment filling me, thinking mistakenly that reaching an editor was better for me than an agent. Even so, I was anxious when I sat down at the table in a small room filled with hopeful authors, other agents/editors, and lots of noise and confusion.

And I was even more confused when Alyssa almost jumped out of her chair to tell me she loved, loved, loved my ten pages, that she read them on the plane, that she was almost flying the plane to San Antonio to meet me, and was I finished with the novel?

I was gobsmacked.

I don’t remember what I said, because Alyssa wanted me to send her the entire novel right after she arrived in her new office at her agency in early December, and I probably just nodded and babbled, knowing how far I had to go in revisions before I felt it would be ready to send.

Now, there is more to my story, but for this post I want to see if you can find the next stepping stone on the path.

It is…luck.

But, wait, you say, luck? Really? How do I make luck?

You don’t. But you can jump at chances that come at you through luck.

You can say yes to things that feel risky. You can open yourself to disappointment but also to joy. You can volunteer for things that may or may not help your career. You can push through confusion and doubt, and keep revising and revising and taking critiques to heart. You can listen and learn, and when luck opens a door, you can walk through.

It sure was luck that opened that door for me, to go to a conference, to meet Alyssa, to take a chance, to send those pages without even reading them for typos.

I’d love to hear what you think – and whether luck has ever played a role for you in any success, writing or otherwise.

Next week, I’ll give you one more stepping stone that could take you on your path to success.