Sharon Dow

I received my reply by email. When the email popped up, I felt my knees go weak. Would I be on my way to having my first book published? Or would I be back to square one?

There’s no point in delaying the inevitable. It is whatever it is. I opened the email.

Thank you for your submission. Unfortunately we are unable to publish it at this time. We have our quota for fiction for the year. Your work has potential. May I suggest you have it critiqued? (condensed and loosely quoted)

Hmmm. Were they really booked solid? Or was that a kind way to say we don’t like your work? I’ll never know. I decided not to be upset or disappointed. They did say my work had potential. I would cling to that. I also felt it would be wise to follow their advice. One thing I knew is that I was the newcomer to the field. It would be foolish not to take the advice of people who had made this their career.

Fortunately they had provided me with a site, Guild Critique Service that would do the critique. I ventured onto the site and checked it out. After their title, they have a question, “Can you take it?” It was a bit intimidating but I decided, yes, I could do this!

I would be able to send 3500 words. Which 3500 to send? My manuscript had 120,000 words! I chose the prologue, chapter 1 and chapter 59 (one of my personal favourites). Now I began to polish. Each word was scrutinized; some were discarded, others were replaced. At last I had it where I felt it was the best I could do at the moment.

I contacted them, was accepted, and forwarded my manuscript via email. Once again the wait began. Could I take the shredding of my words? Would there be any encouragement in the response? Four to six weeks to wait.

Was this a lesson for me in patience? Sometimes we learn things we aren’t expecting to learn. That’s a good thing. It’s important to always be open to the lessons being taught. Don’t miss out on them. They are the life lessons that help us grow as a person. I thought I was learning how to write a book (and I did), but I was also learning patience and humility as I waited, and as my work was taken apart and critiqued.

Remember; don’t miss out on those hidden lessons!