As more family and friends and old acquaintances become aware of my children’s writing pursuits and books under contract, I’m getting more questions about how the whole process works, and how long it takes.
“Wow, it takes that long?” is a common response.
This weekend, a family friend and fellow homeschooling parent asked if I’d be willing to discuss the process with her daughter and a friend, aspiring writers who are 10 and 9 years old. Sure thing, I replied, but I just realized something.
At their age, when they hear how long I’ve been at this — 7-plus years of writing, 3 1/2 years since receiving my first contract — with no books on the shelf, how is that going to sound?
Would that be like telling a 36-year-old such as myself, “Well, I’ve been at this for 30 years, and I got my contract 15 years ago, so, you know — my books will be out any year now”?
Oh, it’s so nice to hear I’m not alone. I’m querying about my first YA novel, and I’m in the first draft stage of the sequel. If it takes forever, it doesn’t mean we suck at writing, it just means we’re typical.
Heh. I can’t seem to get it across to my dad that this writing/publishing thing takes as long as it takes. I think he’s more impatient about this than I am!
The girls *loved* your discussion about the writing process today! Thanks so much for taking the time to share with them!
They were fascinated with how long the process takes, how illustrators are chosen, the power of editors … but mostly, they could not stop commenting about the binders chock full of rejection letters.