How many licks does it take . . .

. . . before you give in and give up writing?

This question comes up pretty frequently on Absolute Write. One of the common answers is: “Why do you want to write? Do you want to create worlds and characters for your own enjoyment? Or do you want to be published? Or do you want to be a best seller?” Your answer to that question sets the criteria for when to quit.

I want to create characters and situations, and share them with others. Lots of others. A posting site with ten visitors a month isn’t going to cut it. That means I have to write with an eye to being published, and being published well.

Anyone who has submitted a story or queried an agent has taken licks. “Thanks but no.” “Not for us at this time.” “I am not engaged in this story.” (Then I’ll rewrite it so the guy proposes to you. Will that help?)

In the absence of direct input, and it’s been ages since I’ve gotten a personalized rejection, it’s impossible to know why the piece was rejected. Was the writing bad? And if so, in what way? Too analytical? Too flowery? In an earlier post I suggested people ignore a form rejection in so far as what it means about the story. But rack up half a dozen on a story? Fifty on a query letter? When is the writing on the wall God telling us Belshazzars to get a clue rather than just the normal insecurities we all feel from time to time?

I don’t know. I wish I did; I could write a book and make a million dollars.

The question of when to quit is, of course, an entirely personal one. Just as the decision to write is. But I am going to give it ten years. In late 2007 I decided to get serious about publishing these stories I was writing; just over five years ago. When I was at this stage in graduate school, I had a couple papers in scientific journals and a decently received Master’s thesis. But I was doing things that would get me a lot of attention in another year or two. When I was at this stage in my career, I was building up a momentum that would get me respect within the small research community I was part of. It was too early to expect the invitations to symposia and such, but that was coming in the next few years.

Why should I expect my writing to be any different? I have a novel with Musa, and half a dozen short stories in small markets. Looks like I'm where I should be.

So by the end of 2017, I’ll take a look at where I am, and decide what I want to do then. I don’t want to “quit five minutes before the miracle happens,” but I think by that time I will know what I can expect from this endeavor. Worse comes to worst, I’ll have a million or so words written and have had a lot of fun in the process.