What do I think?

There are times when I hear things or read things on forums that make me sit back and think. Today is one of those days. I was reading though some forum posts and came across some chatter about submitting work to be published. A person said they had written something, but was hesitant to submit the work. In response, there were several people pushing him to do it. Their reasoning? He was a good writer. He had good ideas. Surely his stuff would catch the publisher's eye.

This made me wonder a couple of things. Several of them I will discuss now. I guess I am more of cynic now than I was in previous years. I was not one to throw my hat in the ring cheerleaders as they hooraw-ed this person's writing prowess. Personally, I am not acquainted with the work of said person, but I think that is beside the point. I felt like the reasoning these "cheerleaders" were giving why the work should be published and seen was, for the lack of a better word, naive. How many excellent writers with mind blowing ideas will never have their work bound and on the shelves? How many great stories are being mailed back with rejection letters attached to them? Having a good story is not good enough. Now I understand that sounds awful. Especially coming from a person that wants to have a book with her name on it one day.

Here was my second thought. Was this person's work actually as good as this group was clambering it was or were they just doing the same thing they always did? Praise anyone who could string a sentence together that was close to coherence. While I understand the creator of any project is the worst critic of that creation, that doesn't mean you don't know when someone is blowing smoke up your skirt. And I have seen lots of people who are prone to do this on this site. Anything you sneeze out on the screen in paragraph form seems to be great. They can't wait for you to write more. The story is beyond awesome. They are loving it. Any time I see a slew of responses in this fashion, I think two things. One, this person's writing must be mind blowingly awesome. Two, this person is surrounded by yes men and they could run their knuckles blindly across the keyboard and still get praises for putting together something so wonderful. I find yes men to be the most dangerous. They give a false belief that work is good when it's not. And those who could actually help make improvements now sound bitter and spiteful.

Sure, everyone wants to be praised for their work. But a person serious about a craft will want to get better more than he wants to hear praise and receive patting on the back. Pat my back when my work is in print. However, that is how I feel about things. I can't really speak for anyone else.

Now, with all that being said, do I think that this person should not send their work in? Actually, it depends. If they are serious and that is the final product of their efforts, then I say go for it. If they have polished and revised and workshopped that thing until they feel this is it, then bite that bullet and see what happens. But I wouldn't send it in a moment before. When it comes to writing, I don't think there will ever be a time when you think your story is perfect. There is always something to change, something to work on. But there will be that feeling of "It's time to leave things alone" and you have to put your hands up and step away. That's when I would submit.

So how to tie all this up in a nice and neat little bow? I think being published takes more than having a good idea on paper. What else is needed, I am not entirely sure myself. Take praise, but keep your eyes open when you are getting it. The moment you think you have arrived is the moment you will start to fall. And lastly, take a stab at it. The worst thing that could happen is receiving a rejection letter. And that just places you exactly where you were when you started.