The Writer's Book of Hope
Getting from Frustration to Publication
-
-
3.0 • 1 Rating
-
-
- $11.99
-
- $11.99
Publisher Description
In 1889, the editor of the San Francisco Examiner, having accepted an article from Rudyard Kipling, informed the author that he should not bother to submit any more. "This isn't a kindergarten for amateur writers," the editor wrote. "I'm sorry, Mr. Kipling, but you just don't know how to use the English language." A century later, John Grisham was turned down by sixteen agents before he found representation-and it was only after Hollywood showed an interest in The Firm that publishers began to take him seriously.
The anxiety of rejection is an inevitable part of any writer's development. In this book, Ralph Keyes turns his attention from the difficulty of putting pen to paper-the subject of his acclaimed The Courage to Write -to the frustration of getting the product to the public. Inspiration isn't nearly as important to the successful writer, he argues, as tenacity, and he offers concrete ways to manage the struggle to publish. Drawing on his long experience as a writer and teacher of writing, Keyes provides new insight into the mind-set of publishers, the value of an agent, and the importance of encouragement and hope to the act of authorial creation.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
To be clear: this is not a guide on how to write a book (Keyes covered that in his last volume, The Courage to Write). Rather, it's a tool for writers who have found their courage and now need hope: that their work is good, that it will be published despite the inevitable rejections, that readers will actually buy it."Frustration is the natural habitat of writers at every level," writes Keyes, a trustee of the Antioch Writers' Workshop, and his goal here is to lead writers out of the darkness of despair and into the light of reassurance. Keyes offers useful advice on coping with"discouragers" (they"can be dispatched by understanding their motives and by putting them to work as goads");"exorcising excuses" ("I have no talent"); and"rites of rejection." He introduces writers to the strange habits of the"publishing tribe" (they are, he says, slaves to the opinion of their peers), and offers many anecdotes from the experiences of A-list writers such as Ann Patchett and Tony Hillerman. Writers seeking reasons to hope should get a boost from this gently reassuring handbook.
