Rules of Writing

Rule 1. If you write something really brilliant that you adore--something so good that when go back and read it you can't even imagine that you actually wrote that, everyone else will hate it. Seriously, what do they know? So what? Maybe they are an agent. Did you really want one anyhow? Come on, especially one that overlooks your obvious brilliance. The real problem is your writing is just too brilliant for them to fully grasp. Maybe one day, others can be as enlightened as your brilliance and then that brilliance will hit bookshelves.

Rule 2: If you write something you hate, something so bad you think you should be shot for having written it, others will delight in it. Yep. You write it and it's just not coming out right. You keep working on it and it's just getting worse. You know this scene is not what you had in mind--it doesn't even match the picture in your head. This is not the way it was supposed to work. In a mad frenzy, you send it out to your CP hoping she can work some kind of voodoo and save at least part of it. But what you'll find is an email that says "This is really good. But just so you know you spelled a word wrong in the third line and your MC's name changed. But this is the best scene you've ever written. This is my favorite scene in the whole book. Why would you change it?"

Rule 3: Where rule 2 applies, seriously consider giving into others and ignoring your harsh inner editor unless that editor's objections are grounded in all sorts of extremely logical reasoning. Then throw that reasoning off of someone else and see if that alters their enthusiasm about your scene.

Rule 4: Where rule 1 applies, think long and hard before giving into others. If they really completely miss your brilliance, the changes they'd like to see are probably big not small. That could be a whole different story. Do you really want to see this story published? Bad enough to make grand scale changes? If you make grand scale changes and get published would that be seeing this story published?