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| Oct 2008 |
On one of the loops I belong to there's been a discussion on one of the workshops because some people thought it was too snarky because the manuscripts were someone's baby. I don't know … but if you send something to publishing industry professionals, you should be ready to hear what they have to say even if you think their comments are mean. It's not their job to spare your tender feelings. Nobody put a gun to your head and forced you to submit.
Your manuscript is NOT your baby or treasure or any such thing. It's a product you hope to sell to make a profit. (Or at least generate positive cash flow since “profit” is a figment of an accountant's imagination.) This is not to say that it doesn't hurt to get rejected or us writers don't get neurotic when we write. But this kind of attitude helps because you can maintain some distance so that an editor/agent's rejection of your manuscript does not become personal and morph into a rejection of your baby.
(BTW — I don't get this “baby” thing in the first place. Do people normally sell their children to the highest bidder?)
To invest excessive emotional attachment above and beyond what's necessary will only break your heart even more when you get rejection slips, crappy reviews, and snarky reader comments.
October 5th, 2008 at 1:16 am · Link
HAHAHAHAHA! :wub:
October 5th, 2008 at 10:42 am · Link
Should’ve known you’d be amused. LOL.
October 6th, 2008 at 4:55 am · Link
Of course I would be amused. What did you expect? ;)
October 6th, 2008 at 10:48 pm · Link
I understand the whole “baby” thing: you give birth or “create” to it, you edit and “nurture” it, but some people don’t realize that eventually it must grow up and become an adult. Then you send it off into the world and hope it can make something of itself so it will support you instead of sponging off you the rest of its life. LOL!! :mrgreen: :mrgreen:
October 8th, 2008 at 1:06 pm · Link
EXACTLY! 8)