Guest Blogger: Andra Marquardt
The other day I wanted to post something on the Facebook group, Realm Makers Consortium. I didn’t know what, except that it be humorous. After staring at that evil cursor for about two minutes, this popped into my head:
“I asked God to teach me patience, so he made me a writer.”
Writing, like any other skill, takes a lot of work. Years of work and study. Learning the rules, knowing when to break them, reading a lot of books both in and out of our chosen genre to discover what works and what doesn’t. Why certain tropes and writing structures work for some genres and not for others. Writing hundreds of thousands — if not millions — of words to discover our own unique voice.
Deciding what to publish, when, to whom, to go indie, vanity or traditional. To spend countless hours searching for editors, cover artists (for indie publishing), agents and publishers. To wait weeks if not months for that almost inevitable rejection letter, yet still hopeful for an acceptance. Trying to convince ourselves that another rejection won’t hurt as much as the last one, and to not want to scream into a pillow and vow we will never write another word when it does come.
Yesterday I went back through my original blog about my journey to get published, and I tried not to cringe at the date of my first entry: September 16, 2005.
Have I really been at this for thirteen years? Should I be embarrassed that I have so little to show for it?
Or should I be grateful?
Because I trust God and his plan for me, I’m going for grateful. I haven’t sat idle while I wait. I’ve spent that time writing, reading, studying and honing my craft. When I look back at what I wrote back in 2005 and earlier, I have improved. Much of it was unpublishable, but I couldn’t see it at the time. God did, however, and that’s another reason I am grateful.
As of now, I wait yet again for an agent to get back to me. I met with him at Realm Makers 2018 and pitched my fantasy (it has dragons!). He liked it enough that he wanted to see more of my other novels as well (space opera. sorry, no dragons). I’m hopeful, a little anxious, but at least I don’t complain as much while I wait.
Andra Marquardt is a civil engineering technician and registered professional land surveyor in North Dakota. She’s a wove and mom and a veteran of the Anomaly Forums and the Marcher Lord Select Premise Contest. Visit her website.
The New Authors Fellowship 