Friday, July 17, 2009

The Climb

Back in May, I posted this:
Today was nothing but baseball. Both boys were playing in tournaments on opposite ends of town, which meant way too much time in the car. My daughter had her I-Pod hooked up to the car stereo, and the kids randomly fought over which songs to skip over and which ones to turn up louder.
When Mylie Cyrus's song, "The Climb," came on, my thirteen-year-old son speaks up and says, "Don't change this." This wouldn't have been a big deal except for the fact that he hates Mylie Cyrus. The rest of us turned and looked at him in shock, and he says, "What? It's the song that was going through my head when I got that last hit."
I heard Mylie's song yesterday, and it made me think about my own climb. When I first started querying, I thought I could make the mountain move, or at least find a faster way around it, rather than having to climb it.
I told you about all of my query mistakes yesterday, and a couple of you commented that the mistake you made was querying too soon. This was probably the biggest mistake I made, too. My work was not ready. I thought I could skip over many things. And I thought I'd be the exception.
What we all need to remember is that this truly is a climb. It's hard work, and it takes time to get over a mountain. But if we keep putting one foot after the other, someday, we'll get to the other side!
Speaking of mistakes, I had a typo in my post yesterday. Does anyone remember what it was? Don't cheat. No looking back!
Have a great weekend!

16 comments:

Sherrinda Ketchersid said...

I am not ready to query. I just finished my first WIP and am now editing. I have a feeling I may not be ready to query until I have a few more books under my belt! It gonna take me that long to get this writing thing down! lol

LOVE the shoes, btw!

Rae said...

Susan,
You have great talent and are an excellent writer. It is pure joy for me to visit here everyday be amazed at your posting. It is always food for thought and something worthwhile to read. Keep up the fantastic work. I am so glad I found your blog to follow.

LaFleur2009 said...

I can't find my own typos! Do you really expect me to see yours? I am a writer, not an editor! LOLLOL

Anonymous said...

The title of this post reminded me of No Doubt's "The Climb"

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1NAQqrHqRSw

Anyhow..

"It's hard work, and it takes time to get over a mountain. But if we keep putting one foot after the other, someday, we'll get to the other side!" Good advice!

I don't know your typo from yesterday. I have typos in my posts all the time, I'm sure. I don't really proof-read my blog posts. I'm bad, I guess :)

Cindy R. Wilson said...

Great post! I love that you were honest about when you first started querying. I thought a lot of the same things. That it would be easy. That I was the exception. The cool thing is, though, even if we could skip "the climb", why would we want to? It's what shows we can persevere. It's what shows we want it more than anything. It's what makes us into the writers we are today and will be years from now.

Woo hoo! I feel so encouraged. Thanks :D

Heather Sunseri said...

Typos - Smypos! Blogging friends will always forgive typos! Because we all know it will be us tomorrow.

Have a great weekend!

Liana Brooks said...

Good inspiration for the weekend, thank you.

Anna C. Morrison said...

Keep climbing! You will get there eventually. :-) Thank you for following me. I look forward to reading more of your blogs.

Jody Hedlund said...

The writing life is such a long, uphill, steep climb sometimes! And often a stumble backwards a time or two! Thanks for the encouragement to keep going!

Terri Tiffany said...

Love what you wrote. It is a climb--not a walk in the park so to speak. And I too wanted to skip my way into publication and not realize the long climb it would be.
The book I'm working on now will be a year in the making before I even think about querying it at all. I want it my best!

Joyce Wolfley said...

One word in front of the other....what a challenging and exhilarating climb it can be!

kah said...

I think every writer thinks they're an exception. Until the first few rejections come, then we reevaluate. And I loved the query mistakes. I'm sure agents have seen MUCH worse. ;)

Danyelle L. said...

Wonderful thought! The best thing to do is to keep focused on the goal. No, I didn't notice any typos. :D

Susan R. Mills said...

Thanks everyone (especially Rae) for all the comments. The climb is hard, but it's also the most rewarding thing I've ever done!

Tana said...

I think of writing when I hear that song too. Honestly it's all about the publishing though lol!

K. M. Walton said...

Hi Susan, I found your blog through Thing 1 and Thing 2 - Corey's blog. Wanna hear the craziest thing? I posted nearly the same exact post, even titled the same. I'm in querying heck right now too...