I’m getting ready to dig into my copy edits. The first thing I do (out of curiosity) is go through the post-its that stick out the side. There are about half a dozen of them in the ASK FOR IT ms. No matter what they say, they make me cringe.
I’m going to make errors. That’s a given. But still, I hate that I make them. If a gown or eye color changes when it’s not supposed to, I mentally kick myself. How the hell did I do that? If I overuse something and it’s pointed out to me with a little, “Can we maybe have something else here?” I’m :doh: and :scratch: Why didn’t I catch that? And part of me wonders if the copy editor is sitting there saying to themselves, “Man, this chick sucks. Why the hell are they buying her books?” and that thought bothers me.
*sigh* My cp asks me often how it’s possible that I have such confidence issues. I’m selling stories I haven’t even thought up yet. (Unlike many authors, I don’t have a file of story ideas. I’m not an author who has endless premises to explore.) I replied the other day that I’m confident my work is salable, I just don’t know why it’s salable. I haven’t been writing long enough. Not that I’m complaining. No way in hell am I complaining. It’s just everything happened really fast. And I know none of this would be happening if I didn’t have the editors that I do. Out of all the editors I could’ve gotten, all the editors who would reject my stuff and think I’m not good enough, I ended up with editors who love my work. Sheer dumb luck.
I think that’s where the confidence comes into play. How do you feel confident about luck of the draw?
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I’m not offended at all! :hug:
I hate that you call it sheer dumb luck. You’ve obviously worked very hard producing lots of stories to sell, and they’re good stories to boot or you wouldn’t be getting the raves and reviews you’re getting.
You might be justified to call it lucky that you got the editors you got when you got them, but it’s like you’re telling everyone you’re no one special, your books are salable but not particularly special either, and without that sheer dumb luck, you wouldn’t be where you are.
Don’t take this the wrong way, but that’s so wrong! If you have success, you deserve it!
It was more than luck. If those books or ideas hadn’t been there, there would have been nothing to sell. If the story or idea didn’t offer something someone was looking for, you wouldn’t have sold.
You have wide appeal. That makes it more likely that more people will like your stuff! So it wasn’t luck at all. It was your appeal.
Hope I didn’t offend!
I think there’s a healthy dose of luck involved in publishing. For example, Harry Potter being rejected many times over, and the old rule of “right ms, right editor, right time”. That’s luck.
Somewhere, a really awesome story is sitting around gathering dust and rejections while waiting to get lucky. Did the author work their ass off? Sure, but without a shot of luck, they’re not getting anywhere.
Just MO.
I don’t believe in luck of the draw, although I guess it’s happened to others. I believe in hard work and perserverence. (sp?) Just plain working your a** off to get to where you are!
It’s soooooo nice to know there are others out there with the same problems as me. Of course, I’m not sure that’s a good thing for the world at large. :scratch:
Sheer dumb luck here. No question about it. The writing, the work — I’m not saying it isn’t being done or that it’s easy, but my editor? Crazy luck.