If I could give my younger writer self some advice - by Debbie Ridpath Ohi

It's been a pretty amazing couple of months for me. I'M BORED, a picture book that Michael Ian Black wrote and I illustrated, has been getting some wonderful press.

I really wish I could take part of the mega-good-karma that is happening now and sprinkle it into my writing career a few years ago, when I was getting rejection after rejection after rejection.

Way back, I used to think that once I had my first book published, I'd have it made.

The reality? There's a whole other level of angstiness. And of course the truth is that no matter what stage a writer (or illustrator) may have reached in their career, there will ALWAYS be something else to stress about. Those who haven't yet reached a particular level will envy those who have, no matter high up.

I'm sure even J.K. Rowling has her angsty list.

If I could give my younger self some advice, it would be this:

Enjoy every success, no matter how small. Try to put some of the emotional energy you're putting into... 

1. Wanting something you don't have

and

2. Insecurity about where you are vs where you think you should be 

....and save it for your creative process.

Meanwhile, of course, I'm trying to take my own advice in terms of my writing career. I've been published as an illustrator and am working with S&S on writing my first picture book.

The next step? Getting my middle grade and YA novels published! Grateful to the MiG Writers for helping me improve my novel-writing craft.

Meanwhile, I'm enjoying the journey. :-D

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Debbie Ridpath Ohi writes and illustrates books for young people. Her illustrations appear in I'M BORED, written by Michael Ian Black & published by Simon & Schuster Books For Young People. I'm Bored was selected by The New York Times for its Notable Children's Books Of 2012 list.

Breaking up is hard to do

After revising my latest novel, I promptly sent it out to an agent who had expressed interest in it. I’ve been interacting with this particular agent at conferences and via email for many years. I thought she might be “The One.” (If there is such a thing.) She’d had some concerns about the direction of my career which is why she’d passed on offering representation last round. But I let her know that I’d made some decisions and hoped she was interested in reading the revisions and discussing my thoughts about my future.

I got a “No and please stop contacting me” within 48 hours. (Okay. She didn’t actually say to stop contacting her - it just felt like that! *grin*)

It was a depressing, l-think-I’ll-go-eat-a-bowl-of-cookie-dough-now experience, sure. But it was also, in a real way, liberating. Kind of like dating someone for a long time, realizing you want more from the relationship but the other person doesn’t. I walked away thinking, “Alrighty then. Well, at least I can cross *that* person’s name off my list!”

But here’s the thing. Several days later, I had lunch with a friend who happens to be one of Agent’s clients. We were talking about the “break up” and she told me she knew the agent had another client who was trying to write both MG and YA and not having much success dividing her energies and nailing both voices. (This was the main reason Agent took a pass on me earlier. She really like the MG book I submitted but not the first 30 pages of my YA book.) So my friend told me she could see why Agent would be reluctant to take on another client that she felt was in the same position.

Who knows? Maybe Agent was right. Perhaps I haven’t quite pulled off the YA voice in my other project. But maybe she let her prejudice and experience with this other writer cloud her judgement when it came to my work.

Either way, it was a good reminder that - sometimes - it's THEM and not you.

Happy writing!

~Carmella

How to Handle Rejection

I try not to let it get me down, but sometimes it does. Even though I've been pretending ever since I sent out my query letters that it doesn't matter so much. I can always write another novel (yeah, in another four years). Here are some thoughts about how to ease the sting of a rejection:

1. Do something creative with the rejection letters, like give them to your new puppy and see what he thinks about it.

2. Read blogs about rejection written by other writers. It helps to know there are others out there feeling the same way.

3. Twizzlers. Chocolate. Whatever. Treat yourself to something delicious.

4. Send out more queries. One letter is just one person's opinion.

Actually, the thing that works best for me is to immerse myself in a new and even better writing project. I'll go back and fix up the rejected one someday, but the more writing I do, the more my writing will improve (especially with my awesome critique buddies to give me feedback). The next book I write could be The One.

What's your best tip for dealing with rejections?

-- Andrea