Unpublished! Why It’s Awesome

I’m coming up to the mid-March you’ll hear back deadline. And I’ve got that whole love/hate relationship thing going on with the Inbox of Doom. It’s mostly hate at the moment, followed by brief, intense bouts of love. Such as waking to find there is NO email from the editor in the mornings – love that! And then, five minutes later, ‘argh, there is NO email from the editor! argh! But I need to know!’ etc. Hate that.

Anyway, pretty much convinced myself that my submissions totally suck. Both of them. No, truly. Don’t get me wrong, I love my Hammer Pants ms. I love my hero who is soooo very bad and love my heroine who gives him what for. But since writing the Chessman, I have learned a whole lot more about letting my characters do what they will, and I’m not sure that has happened with MC Hammer Pants. I hate chapter 3 for example. I want to rewrite that completely and as for the rest of the ms… I’d like to think I’ve done okay for a full request but, fact is, I may have stuffed up again like I did with the previous ms and they won’t want the rest. And I’ll be kicked back to the slush.

Doubt is vile.

So to pass the time in Unpublished Author Hell and distract myself from my submission doubt, I’ve decided to list all the positive things about still being unpublished.

1. I can write what I want.
2. I can write when I want.
3. I have NO deadlines.
4. I don’t care what my readers think about my story because I have no readers.
5. I can write a story with characters who don’t have to be sympathetic/aspirational/original/flawed. Or not.
6. I can have has much external conflict as I like. And aliens. And guns. And pirates. And a little pink pig called Mavis (and she can be the freaking heroine!).
7. I can have no conflict at all if I want and the story can be two pages long.
8. I can stop writing forever and take up morris dancing instead and no one would care.
9. I can toss my WIP in the bin and it wouldn’t matter.
10. I don’t have to obssess about whether my book is outselling other people’s or worry about royalties or marketing or whether I have enough ideas for another book or whether my second book will be as good as my first or whether I’ll be a one hit wonder or whether I’ll even sell another book ever again.

Oh and here is a link about why being unpublished is awesome (if you can’t handle teh swearz, then don’t click it).

Any other currently unpublished peoples out there who can think of some reason why this isn’t a bad state to be in? Gotta take the positives where we can huh?

PS. Okay, I’m totally lying, you know that, right? Here’s why I’m actually desperate to be published…

17 thoughts on “Unpublished! Why It’s Awesome”

  3. LOL!!!!! Love your list but it’s not quite true… we’d ALL care if you gave up cos your writing IS fabulous. I may not be an editor but I KNOW!!!
    My reason why being unpubbed is fabulous is that I can read whenever I want if I don’t feel like writing and not feel guilty! Well not much 🙂

  4. If you stopped writing Jackie, i think YOU would care! What would you do with all those characters running around in your head??
    Read both of those posts and they made me laugh! Thanks for that 🙂

    And you are right, being unpublished at present in awesome!
    ‘ course that will change in a day or so 😀

  5. Okay this all ties into my fantasy about being Rich & Famous (not necessarily from writing but just R&F in general):

    Being unpublished (aka Poor & Unknown) rocks because:
    * I’m not mobbed for autographs whenever I’m dining at swanky restaurants
    * George Clooney isn’t pestering me for a date after reading my latest book
    * Nora Ephron isn’t constantly phoning me because she wants to option my book
    * Meg Ryan isn’t constantly phoning me because she heard that Nora Ephron is optioning my book and wants to play the heroine
    * The paparazzi aren’t camped outside my house
    * Oprah doesn’t want me to interview me for O Magazine

    Having said all that, I’ll be quite happy when it does all happen but a girl needs to work her way up to these sort of things so I’m kicking back, taking the journey to R&F slowly and enjoying the view (same as you sweetie)!

  6. Rach – Thank you sweetie!! Oh yeah, I totally forgot the reading part of it. Yay to reading without guilt!

    Kerrin – Well, that’s true. I probably would care. But I would be the only one! 🙂 Lol re it changing! That too – just about every five mintues. 🙂

    Elissa – man, I hadn’t thought about all of those things but THANK GOD I’m not published in that case. Having George Clooney bugging me all the time would totally annoy me, as would the whole Nora/Meg combo. The papps I could just send to Maisey’s house. 🙂

  7. Thanks for the links! I had read the “No, Seriously” post, but I totally had missed the second one. And I totally can’t even repeat what he said that cracked me up.

    We’ll have to make sure to be extra distracting the next week or so.

  8. Julia – yes, I want distraction! 🙂 And don’t you love the reasons you totally want to be a writer? I quite like the being paid to make sh*t up. 🙂

  12. Jackie, is it bad that I absolutely love both of those posts??
    I have every part of my bady that can be crossed, currently crossed for you Jackie. Hoping you get an email any day soon x

  13. Man, now I want to read about Mavis and her dark, alpha hero!!! I hope he’s a Frenchman.

    As always, thinking of you, Jackie. Wishing you the best, crossing fingers and toes, lighting candles, and burning the doubt crows in effigy . . .

  14. Jackie
    I have the answer – a childrens book featuring Mavis the Gun toting Alien Pirate Pig. Maisey could illustrate it!
    I hope you wake up to a fabulous email on Monday requesting a full.
    Nina x

  15. Hi Jackie: Long time no see.

    I have had my nose to the grindstone, so to speak, working my @$# off trying learn as much as possible about self-publishing. The stigma it used to be shrouded in is lifting – lifting big time. I have been polishing my novel (first in a series of 3)withn an inch of its life and I am close.

    Feedback I’ve gotten from agents have all acknowledged that I write really well, but my story just didn’t fit into the tiny little market niche. It has never been more difficult to get published the “traditional” way.

    I could go on, but I won’t. Before June, I should have my book out because I believe in it.

    You might want to check out J.A. Konrath’s – A Newbies Guide To Publishng. If you don’t know who Konrath is, just type his name into google and there will be no end of info on him – start with wiki.

    I just started up my Author Website to compliment my blog in prep for when the book comes out. Have a look at my book trailer teaser – I had a blast making it.

    When you think your done making your book the best it can be, you might want to think about self-pubbing. But do your research, it’s not to be rushed into.

    Have a great weekend.
    -Wendy

    http://jakonrath.blogspot.com/

  16. Maisey – ahhh, on hold he? You’re a stronger woman than I…

    Scarlet – thank you m’dear! And no, not wrong at all. 😉

    Aimee – thanks heaps, hon. I love the burning effigies. And Mavis? Her hero is AWESOME. But hey, I’m unpublished and I could make her a hermaphrodite and it wouldn’t matter! 🙂

    Nina – thank you!! I hope so but my Monday is Sunday in the UK so probably not. But Tuesday might be a good day… Anyway, I love the idea of the kids books. Maisey is an awesome drawer.

    Wendy – thanks for the info and the link! Will check it out. And good luck with your book! Will keep and eye out for it.

  17. Hey, now, listen. I still have a partial – REQUESTED, mind! – from last July lingering in no-decision-hell. Does that mean I can’t write and ought to give up? No! Because I’ve sold three other books since sending it off, and to a major mainstream publisher too.

    My point is, stop putting all your eggs in one basket and thinking that little ol’ basket is the only one in publishing heaven. (Um, okay, poor metaphor there, but you know what I mean … )

    Spread the love. That way, you might get some back!

    Jx

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