A NEVER GIVE UP THREAD:

It took me 3 manuscripts (lots of tears while querying & watching all my best friends get Big 6 deals) until I finally signed with my first agent. I got 7 offers of rep for that manuscript, but it NEVER sold despite its interest. Then...

...after a lot of heartache with it not selling (it’s a LOT of heartache!) I kindly left my agent (we’re still best friends!) & wrote another MS. I queried & got a new agent (it remarkably only took 2 days of querying) & new agent wanted to try & sell that SAME manuscript...

...again. So I went on sub again. Then the MS got so close to selling. Went to acquisitions, got great interest, but ultimately, it fell through. (Devastation with the same manuscript again!!) Failure. My best friends continued to have success. 4 of them became NYT...

...Bestsellers while I was still “nowhere.” So I walked away for a while. It was so hard to go through such heartache again & feel like a failure. I took it personally. I let it affect my self worth. It took a long time to get my head straight, but I did. I realized my...

...success had nothing to do with my worth as a writer & as a human being, so I wanted to try again. I subbed the MS to small presses & signed a deal before I wrote another book. Then I queried the new book. I signed with a new agent (Yay Kelly!) & we’re continuing our path...

... I’m beyond stoked to see my original MS be pubbed next June while I continue working/hoping/dreaming to accomplish my ultimate goals. One step at a time. One word at a time. It doesn’t matter if your friends are all “ahead” of you in the journey...

...it doesn’t matter *where* you are in the journey or how long it takes to reach your goals. We are all beautiful people trying to live our dreams & that’s what matters. What matters is that we keep pushing onward—stretching ourselves to become better...

...I’ve learned that it REALLY IS the journey (not the destination) that brings happiness. I wouldn’t change my journey for anything because it’s morphed me into who I want to be. I love my friends & all their successes! And...

...I love growing on my own. So as this New Year starts, I’m going to push forward grateful for all my past years & heartache, because not only has it made me a better writer, but a stronger person, too. We all have our journey, and that is a beautiful thing!!!

Thank you so much for all of your love and response with this thread. It means a lot to be understood and heard! If you want to support this book on goodreads, that’d mean a lot too: http://bit.ly/365qqHf