Writer Motivation for When the Going Gets Tough
by Mary Kole | Former literary agent, now a freelance editor, writing teacher, and IP/story developer for major publishers and creators.
Sometimes, writer motivation is what you have to get you through when you’re facing a lot of writing rejection. When the world isn’t serving up external validation, writers must search within for their own writer motivation. People can feel very vulnerable when they put themselves out there, so it's understandable that coming up with a submission strategy grinds a lot of writers down. It makes the pursuit of the dream real. Writers are about to learn their fate. This is high stakes!
Your Writer Motivation
If it helps to know, a lot of agents are very conscious of the impact of their rejections on writers. They’re aware that by rejecting a particular piece of writing, it could mean years of hard work down the drain for the writer on the receiving end. It's a lot of responsibility for agents to bear. Most agents don’t want to destroy someone’s writer motivation, but they’re part of a publishing industry where they are selective about projects so that they can make a living.
Everyone who works in the industry—ideally—holds great respect for both writers and their work, and keeps that top of mind.
Instead of seeing rejection as despiriting, turn it into writer motivation. It really is difficult and challenging to be rejected, but the sooner you can accept that book rejection comes for all writers, the easier it might be to learn from feedback and grow a thicker skin. Not all feedback is created equal, either.
All of our editors tell clients to “take the wisdom and leave the rest,” even if not all of the notes land. It’s up to each writer to create their own writer motivation if they want to make it in this business—writing rejection is plentiful, and perseverance isn’t. If you can change that tide for yourself, you’ll be able to weather the storms that come and go.
Writing is hard. It requires patience and dedication. The only way to succeed is to keep writing and growing and learning. How’s that for writer motivation?
Writer Motivation: Check Your Pride
It's all too common for a critique group to be composed of writers simply praising each other's work. Of course, this can be nice and make you feel good, and in the short term, it can be great for writer motivation. But it won't help you grow or actually become a better writer. You won't learn the skills of revising and how to work through constructive criticism, or what it's like to deal with rejections. Trials and tribulations, after all, make us stronger.
It can be difficult to maintain writer motivation because much of your art is so personal and feels so vulnerable. But this can be reframed as well. You are only able to write because you can access that vulnerability within yourself. If you didn’t have this soft heart inside of you, if you didn’t have self-awareness or perception about others, you probably wouldn’t feel writer motivation to create art at all.
You have to find a way to separate the business of publishing from your writing and art. While it's okay to have moments where you think you're a genius, don't stay there too long! There are so many talented writers out there all honing their craft and making their work better. Get in there with them. Use writer motivation to kick your own butt! Don't get left behind by being too scared of feedback or criticism.
The Reality of Writer Motivation
Writing a book and getting published takes a lot of work, no matter how talented you are. Many writers practice with more than one manuscript before they start to gain recognition and praise from agents or publishing house editors. Not every book deserves to be published, and not everyone will accomplish this goal, no matter how hard they try.
Maintaining writer motivation isn’t easy, so you need to be ready for a lot of hard work and learning. Writers often think they’re beyond improvement, but the truth is that there is always something new to add to a writer’s toolbox, and something new to try. Achieving success in writing takes a lot of time and effort, and it’s not as glamorous as it seems.
You may hear the publishing success stories, but remember that these glamorous announcements are the result of hard work, writer motivation, and determination rather than luck. As a writer, you need to learn as much as you can about the industry, develop a thick skin and learn how to deal with negative criticism and rejection. You can’t control everything about your publishing journey, so focus on what you can control—your craft and your attitude.
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