Comments on: 5 Ways to Deal With Failure

By: So Here’s What Happened This Week (January 4, 2013) « Wannabe Pride

So Here’s What Happened This Week (January 4, 2013) « Wannabe Pride — Fri, 04 Jan 2013 10:56:25 +0000

[…] 5 Ways to Deal With Failure […]

By: Ashley

Ashley — Wed, 02 Jan 2013 23:10:35 +0000

I entered a writing contest earlier this year just for yucks–after an ad flashed at me on Facebook. This was a contest run by a major publisher of “women’s fiction.” I didn’t win, or even make the finals, but a senior editor contacted me and asked to see the whole manuscript. I didn’t think a contract would fall into my lap, but still–I was hoping. Heard back that although they liked a number of things about it, including the strong opening in the chapter I submitted to the contest, there were a number of problems (too long, some plot holes I hadn’t thought about, and it didn’t fit into any of their publishing categories). She gave me a number of suggestions to improve the manuscript, for which I sent back a huge THANK YOU. So, I’m still an unpublished author. And this was my very first interaction with a publisher–I’ve never tried to submit it anywhere or queried an agent. Yes, it was a let down, but I’m taking the free advice, and trying to fix the manuscript with another rewrite. I’m looking at this as an opportunity and a learning experience. Not a failure. If I send my manuscript off to another publisher after revisions, should I mention the interest I received from this other publisher–even though it didn’t work out?

By: Mira

Mira — Sun, 16 Dec 2012 20:22:48 +0000

This is a wonderful post, Rachelle. It came at a good time for me, and was very helpful. Thank you!!

I continue to believe you have a real gift for prescriptive non-fiction, and not just for authors, but for everyone.

By: Gabrielle Meyer

Gabrielle Meyer — Fri, 14 Dec 2012 04:37:03 +0000

Loved this blog today (saw it on the Books & Such blog earlier). It reminded me that all of us, no matter how successful we are, face failures of many kinds. The truly sucessful people are the ones who get back up, dust off their backside, and try again.

By: Otin

Otin — Fri, 14 Dec 2012 00:42:36 +0000

You’d better not pout,
you’d better not gripe,
Just sit at your keyboard and continue to type,
Your manuscript is coming a-round.

You’re reading it once
deleting it twice,
spitting out words that aren’t always nice
Your manuscript is coming a-round.

You read it when you’re sleepy
browse through when you’re awake
always finding some new flaw
or a major plot mistake.

Oh, you’d better have faith
you’d better not quit,
’cause Rachelle Gardner won’t rep amateur ****
Your manuscript is coming a-round.

LOL

By: joylene

joylene — Thu, 13 Dec 2012 18:30:48 +0000

Coming from you, Rachelle, that’s actually comforting. Haha, weird, but to know that you have your down days makes me feel like I’m doing something right. Merry Christmas, and thanks for all you do.

By: Jo Murphey

Jo Murphey — Thu, 13 Dec 2012 14:48:22 +0000

Yes, everyone has an opinion on failure, because everyone fails at one time or other in their life. Personally I take the Edison approach to failure: Edison took 201 times to create a working light bulb. When asked about it he aid, “I learned 200 ways not to make a light bulb and 1 way to do it right.” Without failure, you don’t learn. Without failure, you can’t appreciate success.