WifeInTheWest

The offer of a contract will never happen unless you get it out there. Obvious? Of course it is, but not for me.

My hand was about to shove the manuscript back on a dusty shelf alongside all the rest – when the niggle started. Well meaning people (you know who you are), were starting to push me to do something with it – one said

“You need to get it out there before you pop your clogs.”

Really! I’m not that old – am I?

Then I began to wonder, how much time do I have left? I could walk out in front of a bus tomorrow – if there ever was a bus…

I imagined my kids having to sort through my rubbish only to find all those (ha!) masterpieces weighed down under a blanket of cobwebs. They wouldn’t thank me for giving them so much to chuck in the skip.

The niggle grew and now in my head were shouts of:

“Get off your bum and do something with it!”

Did I really want my epitaph to read:

‘coulda, woulda, shoulda?’ 

I confess, its most unusual for me to listen to advice sound or otherwise, but for some reason, this time was  different, and I began asking myself another series of questions.

Why would a publisher even give my novel a second glance?

Publishing is a business. They want to make money.

Why would they pay good money to print your drivel?

Okay, now I was backing myself into a corner

Regroup:

Do you believe in what you have written?

What is it you are afraid of?

And then:

One final push…. and still bleating…I’m not sure the whole manuscript is ready to go, not just yet…

I must have done this at least a million times before I really got started.

p.s. Major breakthrough – I sent out my enquiry.