Wednesday, July 13, 2011

Road Trip Wednesday- Biggest Blunder(s)



This Week's YA Highway Road Trip Topic:
What's the biggest writing / querying / publishing mistake you've made?

I find myself rewriting a little Sinatra this morning..."Mistakes. I've made a few..." Like, a few million. I did do them "My Way", but when it comes to mistakes that isn't necessarily something to be proud of.

In writing, I drove away a supportive critique partner because I disagreed with her idea of where I should go (plot wise) with my book. I realize now that I could have said "Thanks for the ideas, but I'm going to keep trying to make it work this way," but she's a published writer, so I thought I had to convince her my vision was right before I could move forward with her help.

In querying, I re-queried someone about a book that she'd requested a whole of six months earlier, but I never heard back from her. She hadn't remembered to reject my manuscript, but she remembered the query, and I got a curt email saying so. I emailed back, apologizing and explaining about the full request. Now, of course, I realize I should have emailed about the full request instead of re-querying...or just let the whole thing go...sometimes no response is their rejection.

In publishing...Oh wait, I haven't had the chance to make any mistakes there yet. But I'm sure if/when I get to that point there will be plenty...hopefully just ones to learn from instead of regret.

What about you? Any blunders to share?

8 comments:

  1. Ouch on both fronts there. I'm hoping I won't make query mistakes this time.

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  2. In the words of Skipper the Penguin, "Just smile and wave, boys."

    Advice I live by in teaching, and with CPs. I usually agree with a lot of what they tell me, especially if it's repeated from several CPs, but when I disagree, I've learned to bite my tongue.

    The second one - definitely ouch. I've had to send one nudge letter and the agent was so apologetic. Sorry about yours.

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  3. You know, working with other writers to find critique partners that work (and learning how to handle critique) is definitely one of the hardest things to do, and I think most people make mistakes here. When I first started beta reading I was absolutely terrified.

    And query mistakes, GAH. It absolutely doesn't matter how much prep you do, odds are you're going to make a well-intentioned mistake like your example here. *Hugs* It hurts to learn that way!

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  4. ...hopefully just ones to learn from instead of regret...

    What we all hope for, but realistically, I think there's a few things all of us are going to have to shrug off if we're out there sharing our writing, whether it be betaing or querying. :)

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  5. Yes, I've made a few CP mistakes. And was an idiotic querier.

    "hopefully just ones to learn from instead of regret" I hope for that, too!

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  6. Well, I guess you can say that you probably learned you don't want that agent anymore. So that's something.

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  7. I don't blame you for being confused about the second situation--I hate the "no response means no" policy! And I don't know that I've run across it for requested material.

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  8. What Tracey said. That is the upside of querying more than once-- you know who to cut after the first attempt.

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