Submit or Surrender?
Why do I resist my own writing advice?
Paisley Abbey gargoyle © User: Colin, Wikimedia Commons / CC BY-SA 3.)
“I give myself very good advice,” sobs a despondent Alice in Disney’s 1951 Alice in Wonderland. “But I very seldom follow it.”
In a recent essay, the second chapter of My Future Shock Hell!, I gave you, gentle reader, some very good advice on the business of ‘rejection-proofing your soul’ when it comes to submitting a project ‘cold’ - that is, surrendering your hard-won comic script, screenplay, or novel to someone under no obligation to give a shit.
“The truth is, cold submissions never get easier,” I said. “You just get better at coping with them.”
Only, I’m not sure I ever have.
“You can’t control what happens once you’ve emailed your pitch or your script. You can’t control whether it gets accepted or rejected…
“So don’t distract yourself by worrying about the possibilities. Focus on the project and your writing. Don’t worry about failing or succeeding. Keep a clear head. This allows you to bring all your experience and ability to bear, and this will help you write as well as you possibly can.”
But right now, I’m sorely reminded that maintaining this state of mind is a very big ask indeed.
I’ve just made a cold submission that – should it get picked up – might possibly change the course of my career. I’ve done my best on this enterprise, brought all that experience and ability to bear, to the point where I feel the project on offer is as good as it could reasonably be.
I studied the movements of the target opportunity and calibrated accordingly. I checked weather conditions, calculated windspeed, over and over, until the time finally came to eye the scope and pull the trigger. Then I packed up, walked away and did my best to forget I’d ever done it.
Logic tells me the chances of hitting that target are remote. I’m up against a zillion other submissions whose writers possess more talent, keener ideas, and more applicable experience than me. I’ve also had my heart broken enough times to know that a submission can fail for just about any random reason…