TALK IT OVER
Driven to disconnect
Jane Wenham-Jones advises a writer worrying that spending time on social media is getting in the way of completing her novel
Good for you, Julia! We like a healthy dollop of determination and I admire your resolve to make the most of your experiences with the earlier submissions.
It is all too easy to fall into a pit of despair when one is knocked back, but horrible as they are at the time, rejections can form a very valuable learning curve and it will only help you towards future success to view yours in this way.
Too many would-be novelists brush aside the feedback they get – even when from highly-experienced professionals in the publishing industry – and disregard any advice on how to improve, and then wonder why their second, third and fourth manuscripts get turned down as well.
The sensible ones realise early that writing is a job we never stop learning on – and if we think we have, then we’ve probably not quite as good at it as we imagine.