Should you quit writing? A rare post for writers...

But Readers Might Get Something Out Of It Too!

I’ve been crazy busy this last week with catching up on life post edits and also running the Rachael Johns’ Book Club Retreat (more on that next week) , so today I’m going to share a post I wrote that was first published in Hearts Talk (the Romance Writers of Australia magazine) in 2024.

A couple of years ago, I had the pleasure of reading WRITERS INSPIRING WRITERS: WHAT I WISH I’D KNOWN, an anthology published by NYT bestselling author, Jennifer Probst and Erin Branscom. They decided to put together this book so that beginning authors could glean invaluable knowledge from bestselling career authors to help them on their own journey. They invited established authors to share with newer authors what they wish they’d known when they were starting out. The essays in this wonderful book range from topics of craft, business, motivation, and much more.

Inspired by this book, I wrote my own WHAT I WISH I’D KNOWN…

IF YOU CAN QUIT WRITING, DO IT!

My journey to publication was a long one – fifteen years, filled with rejections and many, many manuscripts. During those years I sometimes wondered if I was wasting my time. When I was sacrificing TV time or the chance to sleep while my babies did, I wondered if my hours writing would ever pay off. If I’d ever achieve my dream, not only of getting a novel published, but being successful enough that I could quit my day job. I’m a qualified English teacher and although I didn’t hate this, I hoped one day I’d be able to replace my teacher’s wage with royalties.

After thirteen years I hit a really dark patch. I’d been working with an editor at Mills and Boon for two years, editing and rewriting on her advice. When one of my manuscripts finally when to acquisitions, I thought this is it!! But it wasn’t. That rejection was tougher than any that had come before. I got so close and STILL didn’t make it.

When I first started writing it was pure joy! Every time I managed to carve out an hour or so, from work or family, I was delighted to be sitting down at my computer creating characters and playing God. I wrote because I LOVED it, because I LOVED reading and story and because I didn’t want to do anything else.

But fast forward all those years and it had become a chore. In chasing the dream of publication, I’d lost the love – the passion that made me want to write in the first place. I’d told everyone I was going to be an author and every spare moment I had was spent working towards this. If I watched a movie or chose to a read a magazine, I felt guilty that I wasn’t writing. I felt like a failure.

When this final rejection came, I thought maybe it was a sign. Maybe it was time to admit defeat, to take up quilting or join the local theatrical society. I’d “wasted” thirteen years pursuing publication and I didn’t want to “waste” another thirteen and still have nothing to show for it. I told my writing friends, I was done. Luckily, a couple of them convinced me to switch targets instead. I was living in a small country town and rural romance had become a thing, thanks to Rachael Treasure – publishers were hungry for it.

I felt a bit of a fraud because I wasn’t a farmer or a farmer’s wife, but I LOVED rural life. Five years of living in a small town had had its ups and downs – in the beginning I’d definitely felt like a fish out of water – but it had become home, and I was a converted country girl. I decided that I was going to give writing a book one last ditch attempt. I would try write a rural romance, but I’d not even think about publication. I’d write the book I WANTED to read. So, because I also love drama, I wrote about the revival of the theatrical society in a small rural community and how it felt to feel like an outsider and then find your home.

That is the book that finally kick-started my career. This was because of two big things – I’d finally written the kind of book I LOVED to read about the life I LOVED to live, but also the timing was right. I’d written a rural romance when publishers were actively looking for them. There is a HUGE element of luck in publishing.

I often wonder if I had decided to give up before writing JILTED, if I would have been able to. Now when aspiring authors come up to me and say they’ve been writing for a year or so and have racked up a couple of rejections and are contemplating giving up… I think they want me to say, ‘No, you can do it, keep going and you’ll eventually get there.’ But instead, I say, ‘Yes, you should give up.’ You know why? Because this isn’t an easy career – it might not be brain surgery or rocket science, but it’s gruelling and there are highs and lows even after you’re published that I’m sure aren’t good for your health. (I’m on anxiety medication because of my career, not for any other area of my life).

So, if you can give up, embrace being a reader and get a job that promises a more consistent secure income, then I say DO it. But if you try quitting and you can’t, then you’ll know that THIS is what you’re supposed to be doing with your life. And then, you just need to keep writing, keep believing and eventually I honestly believe you’ll achieve your dream.

But here’s the thing… Those thirteen years were NOT a waste – they helped me hone my craft (which never stops even now I’m published), find my voice and realise the types of books I was meant to write (for too many years thanks to a uni degree in creative writing, I thought I should be writing serious literary fiction, when I really wanted to write something like Bridget Jones’ Diary). Doctors, plumbers, teachers, etc, can’t get the job and earn a living before putting in the hard yards, why should authors be any different? I started at 17 so my ‘apprenticeship’ was longer than some people, but what I’d want to tell my younger self is that there is no rush.

I’m glad self-publishing wasn’t an option when I started writing, because young me was desperate for publication and I think I’d probably have decided to self-publish my early stories. But you know what, they weren’t good enough. There was a reason they didn’t get contracted and now I’m glad that they weren’t. I’m not against self-publishing – I have good friends making a great living this way and I read indie published authors who are better than many traditional authors, but I do think too many new writers go this way these days without questioning whether their work is actually ready yet. Whether you’re considering a traditional contract or deciding to indie publish, make sure you’re doing it for the right reasons. You only get one first book!

Sorry, this has been longer than I imagined, but here are my takeaways:

1. Write because you can’t not write.

2. Write the kind of book you love to read, not the book you think you SHOULD write or might make you money.

3. Don’t rush. Enjoy the journey.

NB. My first rural romance JILTED didn’t actually end up being my first publication. While I was writing it, I submitted what I call one of my ‘M&B Rejects’ to a new digital imprint, Carina Press and on April Fool’s Day 2011, I got ‘The Email’ offering publication. But it was in rural romance that I finally found my place.

The book that started it all…