I'd like to share a tale about a girl who struggled, fought, and see how jealous people can truly become when one achieves her dreams.
There was once a girl who loved books. Loved them so much she decided to write a few herself. She finished a few 3 to be exact. The girl researched and researched day and night, night and day, working on the next steps.
Perfecting a query letter. It seem so hard. How can someone summarize so much awesomeness into three paragraphs or less? She did it though. She managed it after a lot of tries and a lot of failures. She also did a synopsis. Same try and fail procedures but eventually landed one that was sure to be just what she needed.
Next she revised, sending her babies off to Beta Readers and Critique Partners she met on writing sites she joined. And once she was fully satisfied with her work, she was ready for the next step. Researching agents seemed easy enough. They all seemed great and amazing and wonderful, but this person had to be everything she couldn't be.
Rejections poured in by the dozens. The girl didn't know what went wrong. She did it all right. But she wasn't given in and kept working. Kept fixing, writing and eventually got some requests. She could do this. She could really do this.
When she got her first yes, she didn't know what to do. She felt confident in her choice and it seemed like a good pick so she said yes. But the girl learned very quickly that some things that come in pretty little packages are not the gifts you want in the end. After a long year the girl was bitter and felt deceived. She looked back on it and realized things were broken, and it was too late to fix. And the hollowness grew until there was just a huge black hole. She felt like her whole world was crashing in on her and her dreams were slowly disappearing. She vowed to never feel this way again. She wrote through her pain. Wrote through her jealously of people she knew landing things that she wished had happened for her.
The girl wrote and worked harder than ever. She read books to help her improve. She sought out new ways to make her book unique, wonderful, and have a flare like no other. And she also decided when the time submit was right, she'd do it on her own. So she worked on a few different things and decided to submit, only this time it was to a publisher and not an agent.
After first her idea was good, but they wanted the girl to revise and resubmit. So she worked on the revision. She was going to get this right. She was determined to never fail again. And eventually the girl resubmitted and got a yes.
Now her book is doing well. She figured people would rejoice with her as she had with them. She hid her jealous green monster from them and wished them the best. And even when she was jealous she never made a remark to let it show. But apparently others are not like her. They tear her down and say things that are not true.
For those who are green with envy please note this. The girl knows what kind of road she traveled and how long it took. She will never forget who to thank for all her good fortune, which are all the readers who love her book and continue to buy it. She will never miss an opportunity to say Thank You. It was hard and she's grateful for the longer journey. It makes her appreciate the good with the bad. And for those of you still finding your own path, just know no matter what there is always a light at the end of the tunnel. Just keep working on it and you'll get there.
Happy Reading
