Keep Writing Until They Are Forced to Say Yes 

Keep Writing Until They Are Forced to Say Yes 

I got a late start as a writer. I was an avid reader, sure, but write a book? Never crossed my mind until I was in my 50s and had a story to tell. I’d never so much as taken a writing class, but one frozen February morning in 2019 I just started writing. The words flowed. I lived and breathed to write this story. It was magical. Reminiscent of first love or maybe even an addiction – I was hooked. I woke up before dawn to write.

I’d write during my breaks at work. I was creating people who had lives and families and issues. They felt love and lust and had hard choices. And I was fixing their problems – never mind that I’d created the problems in the first place. I would stay up until the wee hours, get some sleep, and then get up and do it all over again. It was exhausting, but also exciting and exhilarating. 

And finally, after three months of this, I’d written and re-written the story, and Between February and November was finished.

I planned to submit to agents, so I researched the heck out of querying. Jane Friedman’s blog was a constant open tab on my laptop as was Janet Reid’s Query Shark. I had my “hook” and a fair bit of naïve confidence.

I submitted my first manuscript to a handful of agents on May 21, 2019. Around that same time, I also submitted to my first writing contest. I didn’t realize just how naïve I was until I got my first agent rejection the next day. It was from Jessica Faust of Bookends Literary. This was probably the best first rejection I could have received. 

After seeing my word count, it was clear I had no idea what I was doing as a writer, and I needed to learn about publishing. That’s not exactly what she said, but that was the gist of it. She was helpful though and shared some knowledge about word counts and genres. She ended her rejection with: Remember that the long road to publishing includes many bumps. Keep writing and persevering until they are forced to say yes. She likely included that passage in every rejection, but that was all I needed to hear to keep going. 

Another rejection arrived a few days later from Julie Gwinn at the Seymour Agency. In a nutshell, she said my concept was good, but I needed to hone my craft and suggested I attend a writing conference.  

A few requests for pages came, as did requests for fulls, along with more rejections. None had the effect on me those first two did, nor did they have the advice. Though I had researched the heck out of querying, I neglected to research genres, word counts, and how to find my storytelling voice.

I wasn’t in the position to attend a writing conference, so, I read about the craft of writing. From Writing Down the Bones to Stephen King’s On Writing to Save the Cat Writes a Novel. In the midst of all of this, a friend of mine told me about the Writers Workshop Hard Times Essay Contest and encouraged me to enter. It was due in two weeks, and the guidelines were to write about a difficult experience in your life, how you overcame it, and how you were changed. Sounds kind of like any writer’s life, doesn’t it? Like most people, I had a few difficult life experiences to choose from. I finally decided which one I’d focus on and submitted to my first essay contest on June 29, 2019.

In the meantime, I studied, and I wrote, and I edited. I resubmitted my novel to agents and this time to publishers as well. In September of 2019, I received an offer from a small independent publisher. To say I was ecstatic would be an understatement. A week later, I learned the essay I submitted back in June won first place. 

I felt like a real writer!

While I worked with the publisher to edit my novel, I was invited to submit to the Of Cottages and Cauldrons anthology from Jazz House Publishing. Writing short stories wasn’t my thing, and neither was writing anything spooky or creepy, but it was an opportunity I couldn’t pass up.

in January of 2020, the day after I got the invite to contribute to the anthology, my publisher sent a mass email letting their authors know the publisher was closing their doors and no books would be published. Although it had nothing to do with me, it felt like I had failed. 

I was devastated. 

I cried and felt sorry for myself for a few days but started sending queries again soon after. In the spring of 2020, I enrolled in Masterclass online, learning from Neil Gaiman, Margaret Atwood, and Joyce Carol Oates, and I hired a developmental editor to help improve Between February and November. I continued to submit but this time just to publishers. 

My short story was accepted for the Of Cottages and Cauldrons anthology, which was published in October of 2020. I started working on a new project, and I continued to work on my craft. In the spring of 2021, I submitted to Crone Rising, another anthology through Jazz House. My story was accepted and that anthology was published in May of 2021. Then in October of 2021, RockHill Publishing, another small independent publisher, offered me a contract to publish Between February and November. It was bittersweet and I was afraid to get excited about it. I only shared the news with a few people in case it all went south again. 

But it didn’t.

In September of 2022, I entered Between February and November in the International Firebird Book Award contest and learned in October that it won first in fiction. And in November, Between February and November was officially published. 

Some days I feel like a writer, but some days the imposter syndrome kicks in. Writing is hard. Sending out queries and getting rejection after rejection is hard. It feels scary to put your work out there, and then to get that rejection…ouch! 

It helps to remind myself the only essay I’d ever submitted won first place in a writing contest, and two independent publishers offered me a book contract for the first book I’d written. I try to be kind to myself and not take rejections personally. Maybe my story just wasn’t the right fit for that agent/publisher. 

If you want to be a writer, write! Don’t give in to the negative self-talk. If an editor sends feedback in their rejection letter, carefully consider their advice. Rework query letters that aren’t getting traction. Learn more about the craft, but don’t give up.

My road to publishing was a little bumpy, but really not that long. I’d sent 35 queries before my novel was published. I was lucky, and maybe I have a little talent, but mostly it was just perseverance. When you get that yes, and you will get that yes, you’ll be glad you never gave up. 

—

Patti Lee began her writing journey in February of 2019, at the age of 51. By the end of 2019, her essay, Inadvertent Life Lessons placed first in the Writers Workshop Hard Times Essay Contest, and her novel, Between February and November, placed in the top 10 of the #IndieApril writing contest. She has contributed to several anthologies, and in 2021, she signed a contract with RockHill Publishing for her debut novel Between February and November. Released in November of 2022, Between February and November, took the Firebird Book Award first place in fiction and was a category finalist for the Eric Hoffer Book Award in 2023. She is a member of the Women’s Fiction Writers Association and the League of Vermont Writers. Patti Lee lives in Vermont and has been married since 1988. To keep her four cats and two dogs in treats and catnip, she is responsible for grants and financial management of a small non-profit.

@pattiauthor and Facebook @pattileeauthorpage

BETWEEN FEBRUARY AND NOVEMBER

Between February and November is a story that delves into the messy uncertainty of a long-term marriage. It takes place in a modern-day lakeside town in Vermont. That February morning started out like any other; Layla Ranker got her kids ready for school and her husband off to work before she went off to work herself. It went downhill from there.

An unfortunate event brought her two towns away from home where she happened to see her husband Alan with a young, attractive woman. She subsequently followed them to a hotel. Devastated, Layla contemplates the last 20 years of her life. She tries to figure out what went wrong and wonders if Alan regrets marrying her right after high school. Old wounds are opened when she confronts him about what she saw. Can they get past the past and rekindle what they once had?

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Category: Contemporary Women Writers, How To and Tips