Purple Prose + Writing

Notes of Inspiration

Belief in oneself is one of the most important bricks in building any successful venture.
(Lydia M. Child)

As anyone who has queried knows, sending out queries is akin to ripping a knife through your vein. You bleed. You hurt. You wonder if you have the strength to keep going.

You start with great optimism, and end up with anything but hope.

At least until your next book is finished, and the process starts again.

The next time you get feedback from your critique partner or beta reader, even if it’s just an email or DM on Twitter telling you how much they love your book so far, save those comments. Copy them onto a Word document and post them by your computer. And when you’re ready to query, read those comments. They’ll remind you during those darkest days that there are people who loved your book even if it wasn’t quite right for the agents you queried.

Success consists of going from failure to failure without loss of enthusiasm.
(Sir Winston Churchill)

Do you refer back to your betas’ and CPs’ positive comments when you’re querying? Do you let rejections get your down or do you find a positive to them?

(All photos on this page are ©Stina Lindenblatt)

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Notes of Inspiration + Writing