On Friday an anonymous commenter accused me of being too bleak and challenged, nay, dared, nay, triple-dog dared me to devote a week to nothing but positivity about the publishing industry, books, and the future.
My friends, I have two words for you: it’s on.
Let’s face it. This winter is feeling a little bleak. We could all use some more kittens and rainbows in our lives. Also puppies.
Everyone is here because of one reason and one reason only: we love books. We love the heck out of them. And last time I checked: they’re still here.
Um, right? They are? Yes. Okay. Whew.
So to kick off positivity week, I would like to devote this post to an ode to you.
Yes, you.
I am so incredibly thankful for the people who read and comment on this blog! Honestly, when I started this thingamajig I had no idea what to expect. These queries poured into my office and I sometimes stared at them thinking…… who are these people?
Well, now I know: You all are smart, intelligent, lively, funny, hardworking, supportive, caring, and if I may say so, you have been looking quite dashing lately.
Most importantly: Anyone who writes has my undying admiration. Writing is HARD. It’s not hard like dig a ten foot trench with a plastic spoon hard, but still, it’s HARD. It takes concentration, time, patience, and a whole lot of delayed gratification. There are things that are more fun to do than write a novel, like going to Disneyland or watching Mad Men or eating bacon (or all three at once — basically how I envision heaven), but you put those things off and stare at your notepad or computer and put words down. You’re making something.
And many of you have written novels!! Do you know how hard it is to write a freaking novel?! So many people say they’re going to write a novel someday and never do it. Many of you have done it. It’s an incredible accomplishment. It doesn’t matter how many people read it: whether it’s one person or a million it’s something that should be a source of immense pride.
Even if I sometimes feel like the Angel of Death when I’m answering queries, I hope you know that I am very thankful for the people who query me and I don’t take it at all lightly that people are putting themselves out there with their life’s work. I even (usually) get a kick out of the people who send me angry e-mails accusing me and my generation of being vain and vapid and everything that’s wrong with literature. Hey, buddy, my generation HAS our depression. We’re building character in spades. You got nothin’ on us anymore.
So check that negativity at the door. We’re getting positive, people.
Hope Clark says
Ah, positivity. Now you’re speaking my language.
C. Hope Clark
FundsforWriters.com
M Clement Hall says
Harlequin are reporting profit.
Howzat for positivity?
M Clement Hall says
A (very) few writers on Authonomy are getting contracts.
Anonymous says
Love It! And to add to the kittens and rainbows…Mama Duck laid an egg today! Of course that was after the raccoon ate four of her eggs last week, but we’re not going there it’s Positivity WeeK!
Oh and I really liked what you said about wanting to know the writers behind the queries.Kdrausin
K.S. Clay says
Nice post, Nathan. I don’t think your blog is too negative, but, well, we can all use rainbows and puppies right now so bring it on!
Litgirl01 says
Wow! I really do have that warm and fuzzy feeling. Thank you so much for acknowledging how hard it is to write a novel. Even if I don’t publish this one, at least I feel a sense of accomplishment. I am researching my next one now. Not RIGHT now because I had a few too many margheritas, but I plan to resume tomorrow! 🙂 Thank you for a great blog Nathan.
Shannon says
The positivity has caused me to delurk!
Thanks for the general cheer Nathan and all the great information that you provide. This is a wonderful way to start off the week.
Thank you for all the information, time, and fun insights you share with us via your blog!
Here’s to a week of things that make us smile 😀
Anonymous says
HEY NATHAN!!! What a fabulous idea and I KNOW you to be an appreciative, positive, look on the brightside kind of a personality, so ENJOY! This too will be easy for you. Lucky people are those who get to read the upcoming posts and feel just a little better.
David Eric Tomlinson says
One day down. Only four more to go.
I have a feeling this will be a bit like watching Cool Hand Luke eat 50 hard boiled eggs 😉
Cam says
More good news! People are begging – really, begging – me to finish the 2nd draft of my novel! Of course, most of these people live with me and are annoyed with not seeing much of me lately, but some of the folks begging say that, from my description, they really want to read it. There. Good news! There are readers, there are novelists, and there are beggars.
Bethanne says
Thank You! I swear it wasn’t me, cuz I still enjoy my visits when Nathan lays it all on the line, but phew! Love positive thinking and smiles.
Anna Lefler says
Okay, I received your post via email and came here to reply…and got the big Kermit the Frog bonus! Woo-Hoo!
Thanks for the sweet post, Nathan.
Your blog is like Chapstick on this writer’s windburned soul.
(Oh, man, I am SO using that in my next query letter.)
;^) Anna
Stephanie says
I’m looking forward to a happy week! I think that there is a difference between being doom and gloom all the time and being honest and acknowledging that this is a hard business. Also, as one of the leagues of writers who have received rejections from you, I have to give you great credit for being prompt and professional. No one likes a no, but when you get a no from someone so long after you submitted that you had assumed for say six months or a year that you had been rejected, it’s like pulling the scab right back off.
Stephanie
Anne says
Hi Nathan,
I just came across your blog, and although I think it’s sweet that you’re in awe of people who write, it seems to me you should be shining some of that flattering afternoon sunshine on yourself! I really enjoy your voice; I just wanted to let you know that.
PS Puppies and kittens make everything better. And bacon too, but not all together…
Cass says
Thanks for the positive post Nathan!
Your not the Angel of Death at all!
Thanks for the frog too, Kermit was always my favorite.
Robert A Meacham says
Okay, I’ll see your kittens and raise you a puppy, no, make that two puppies.
Sarah says
Thanks, Nathan! What an encouraging post, though you should know I’ve never been discouraged after reading your blog.
And don’t worry about the Angel of Death bit. One of my favorite characters is Terry Pratchett’s Death. His horse is named Binky AND he likes kittens. Here’s a picture:
https://www.ie.lspace.org/art/kidby/dthfrnds.jpg
Not exactly Kermit, but kinda sweet nonetheless.
TonyK says
What nerve. Of course he declares positivity week on the same day he rejects my query! Maybe yesterday I could have pulled off the positive stuff. Or maybe tomorrow.
Stephanie says
I’m back to add another thought. We all want to get realistic credible information. It would be nice if everyone’s work was good and got nice feedback. Well, maybe it would only be good if MY work and the work of my friends was GREAT and got FABULOUS feedback. However, we live in the real world.
If a rah rah speech addressed to all of us is sufficient to make me feel good about my writing and my life, I’m not taking it seriously enough.
Yes, many of us have written novels. A lot of us have probably written terrible novels. Some of us who have written terrible novels will keep working at it until we write novels that are not terrible.
That’s an homage to a parody of an inspirational poster: If a picture of a kitty and a sweet saying are enough to motivate you, your job is way too simple and will soon be done by a machine.
I’m going to keep working, and someday, maybe I’ll get it right.
CNU says
There’s a taoist expression:
What you think, becomes what you say, what you say becomes what you do, what you do become your habits and your habits create your destiny.
Go positive.
🙂
-C
I_am_Tulsa says
Kermit rocks! …and so do you Nathan!
Sarah says
Stephanie, I don’t think Nathan was complimenting our writing- just our effort.
I agree, we shouldn’t be the sort who are so pleased with our writing that we stop working at it.
But … as someone who is rarely satisfied with what I do, it’s far easier to keep at it if I acknowledge the milestones. Finishing a novel doesn’t mean it’s good, but it does mean you have accomplished something.
I’ve got a bottle of wine waiting for me to finish a huge plot-level rewrite. I’ll drink my wine, then start what I estimate will be another six months or so of revisions.
I figure as long as we don’t confuse a milestone with the end of the trip, it doesn’t hurt to take a bit of encouragement now and then.
mkcbunny says
Did you say bacon and Disneyland in the same sentence? Heaven, indeed!
Don’t forget to add unicorns to that puppy/kitten/rainbow week.
Anonymous says
I love you, Nathan. Even though you very kindly rejected my query within, literally, 5 minutes of my sending it. Or maybe that’s one of the reasons I love you, in addition to today’s lovely blog.
Giving you a virtual hug. 🙂
leesmiley says
So, you’re saying this would be an especially good week to send a query?
Bee says
Positivity rocks. We need more of it in the world. Not pie-in-the-sky stuff, just looking for the bright side of things, rather than always focusing on the negative.
You are such a nice agent that I think I will send you a query about my newly finished novel. I hope you like baseball.
And I’ll take kittens anyday.
Deborah Leiter says
(Deborah delurks, looking around her like a Chuck-style spy)
I don’t know if it’s so much that this blog itself has been gloom and doom as that the news in general focuses so much on the things that are going wrong that we forget to focus on the good stuff sometimes, which actually means we as a society are being unrealistic, in that we get a negatively-balanced view of the way the world is going.
Sure, there’s lots of stress for various people right now, but we are the ones who get to write new stories that can help us deal with what’s going on out there. Heck, in my mind, we need some more hero stories more than ever at times like these…and books are still one of the best places to get them.
(Deborah ducks back between the pages of the Elizabeth Peters Amelia Peabody novel she’s been reading)
Liz says
Well, needed or not, I’m on board with Happy Fun Week. Writers are dark by nature (not bad people, just more inclined to dwell in the shadows). We have to be. It makes for more interesting writing. A little Happy Fun Week never hurt anything.
Heidi C. Vlach says
You’re pretty awesome yourself, Nathan! Flowers and unicorns back atcha!
Newbee says
Why… Nathan,
Thank you for noticing…I have been looking rather well haven’t I? The Angel of Death from “Phantom” is hot. So, I’ll take the Angel of Death any day and everyday.
I’d like to know if you’ve had your green eggs and ham yet? Every school in the nation is celebrating Dr. Suess this week.
When people are getting laid off right and left it’s hard to stay positive…understandably. But, finding that next best selling book must be exciting for you. Sure you have to weed through the fields to find the perfect rose…(that was for you and your crazed “Bachlorness”)but once you find it it’s priceless.
Rainbows…kittens…puppies…fishies, and bunnies!
Jen
Serendipity says
um, I don’t know you, I’ve never submitted to you (basically because I’ve written a middle-grade fiction book) but…thank you. Thank you for saying that. It does get freakin’ frustrating with all the rejection letters, but thank you, Mr. I Have No Idea Who You Are and we will probably never cross paths, but thank you. It ‘is’ hard writing a book. And it’s so easy to forget that you’ve actually written one…
thank you. I’ll cherish that non-personal compliment.
Sarah Laurenson says
Awesome post. Thanks for adding Kermit and the Rainbow Connection!
I’m ready for more positivity!
Pattie Garner says
Thank you for those positive words.
Ryan David Jahn says
I’m not positive by nature, but I am hopeful. I see the glass as half empty, but I really HOPE whatever’s in it is tasty, in other words.
Here’s what happened as a result of being hopeful: In the midst of all of this negative publishing news I finished what I thought was a good draft of a novel. This was December 8th, I think. I sent the manuscript off to the Macmillan New Writing imprint — which I first heard about approximately two weeks earlier on this blog — and on December 19th I heard from an editor there that he liked it, but other folks had to read it before any decisions were made. I’d get an update early in the new year.
For the next two weeks I paced various rooms, banged my head against various walls, and was not hungry at any point.
On January 8th, one month after I sent the manuscript in, I was told they wanted to publish my novel.
Since then I’ve written a new draft, utilizing editorial suggestions (122 of them; that’s one every other page; it’s a short novel), seen copy written for the back, seen the cover art they plan to use, and been informed that my book is scheduled for a November 6th release.
This is all as a result of Nathan happening to mention Macmillan New Writing and me happening to have just enough hope — despite warnings coming from every direction that the publishing industry is crumbling — to send my novel in.
So I guess what I’m saying is, no matter how bad the news generally is, you never know if you’re gonna be the exception. So hope is always warranted.
Also: Thanks, Nathan.
kitkat says
Another thank you to clog your inbox!
Mira says
Wow, Ryan David, congratulations!
That’s pretty darn positive news!
Madison says
Bacon! I love bacon!!!
And I did query you once and recieved a very nice rejection letter. I don’t believe in replying to rejection letters for any reason, but I did appreciate the time you took out to personalize it.
And no, you haven’t been really negative. A little, yes, but who hasn’t? 🙂
Keep writing these posts, Mr. Bransford! This is one of the best blogs on the internet! 😀
Laura says
rainbow connection? are you getting SOFT in your positivity? C’mon, Nathan, be a man! Say NO! 🙂
Just kidding, I hate positivity, it’s too positive…
and my word verification is squinks, who thinks up these things?
Melissa Sarno says
Thanks for your post. I am currently writing a novel and, while I am no where near the point where I can attempt to find an agent, I’ve been reading your blog and learning what I can about this process and the industry. I have found so much of the information valuable. Thank you. But, admittedly, I often leave feeling overwhelmed and discouraged by the process. And I definitely have to skip all of your ‘state of the industry’ posts when it comes to layoffs. ha. I look forward to a week of positivity and muppets. 🙂
Jean says
I LOVE Kermit!
Course, I really like the two old guys (Statler & Waldorf( in the balcony too:-)
Anonymous says
aw this made my day. You rock.
Marilyn Peake says
Happy Dr. Seuss Day, everyone! Apparently, kidthing is offering 4 free digital Dr. Seuss books in celebration.
Jessica says
It’s official. I have a cyber-crush.
Marilyn Peake says
Ryan David Jahn –
Wow, that’s wonderful news! Congratulations!
Chumplet - Sandra Cormier says
Every week I read your posts, and often comment. Sometimes it’s daunting because hundreds of others have commented before me.
I just want to let you know that no matter how much doom and gloom there is out there, your posts encourage me to keep trying to perfect my craft.
Sarah Jensen says
Well, my son loved the video, and now he’s not bouncing in my lap anymore, he’s calmed down. So thank you from the bottom of my heart!
And if I thought you were all gloom, I don’t think I’d read you every day.
But this post was great.
And I didn’t go through all the comments, but I have to say, I watched the Bachelor for the first time, and I was impressed with those two girls. Don’t they usually have mean back-biting girls. That’s what the commercials show. But I so rarely watch any tv, that I was pleasantly surprised by them both. I guess I can now see why you like the show. 🙂
Mira says
Hey, so does triple-dog daring you work, Nathan?
‘Cause if so, I triple-dog dare you to take me on as a client.
Not only am I an unpublished writer, but I haven’t actually written anything.
Go on. Sign me. I dare you.
No. I triple-dog dare you.
No. I triple-dog dare you, plus I throw in an extra 127,000 dares.
Times infinity!!
That ought to work.
aspenwrite08 says
Yes Yes! We need Pigs in Spaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaace. Oh that will be heaven! Thank you Nathan for giving us what we really need when we really need it. Like now.
Horserider says
😀 There is NOTHING more fun than sitting down and just watching the words flow on the page. Writing so fast your hands can barely keep up. There’s also nothing more frustrating that writer’s block at a crucial point in the story, but this is supposed to be POSITIVE. 😀
By the way…I already have enough kittens. 😀 One of them is in my lap right now. I could use some rainbows though. And some 70* F weather wouldn’t be too bad either…
Marilyn Peake says
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