blogger: Cynthia Ruchti
Writers often live a good news/bad news existence, toggling from one to the other. A keynote speaker at a recent writers’ conference used the “Oh, that’s good. No that’s bad” children’s book format to talk about the Old Testament Joseph’s life story. His father gave him a beautifully colored coat? Oh, that’s good. No, that’s bad. His brothers were jealous. His jealous brothers threw him into a pit! Oh, that’s bad. No, that’s good. They didn’t kill him. Oh, that’s good. Well, no. That’s bad. Rather than kill him, they sold him into slavery in Egypt…
And so the story goes. What looked like a good thing was often a bad thing, on second glance. And vice versa. It was the entirety of the story–the mix of good and bad, the flip side of bad and good–that created the full picture.
Good news/bad news for writers?
How could getting a contract ever have a bad side? How could that good news (thumbs up on your manuscript) turn thumbs down? Consider these flip sides.
A writer discovered three rejections in her inbox on the same day! Oh, that’s bad. On the surface, yes. But she’d received three clear answers about where the book did not fit. Guidance. Where the book won’t fit can be just as valuable as finding out where it will. (Hard news, but true.)
You missed an opportunity to connect with the agent or editor of your dreams at a writing conference? Oh, that’s bad. Always? Not necessarily. The story about how you eventually connect may be the real story. Or the memorable one.
You heard from the agent you’ve been waiting on for twelve months. Oh, that’s good! No, that’s bad. The answer was a rejection. Oh, that’s bad. No, that may be good. Rejection is either direction or redirection. And you’ve grown in the past year. The next agent you approach will see a better, more mature, more polished proposal than the one you sent out originally…if you’ve done the smart thing and kept working and growing during the waiting.
Thumbs down?
Your idea–the one you’ve been working on for the past eight years–was just published by someone much more well-known than you. That stinks! Same title, even. Oh, that’s bad. It would seem so, wouldn’t it? But it may mean that your thought is touching on a reader felt need, although there’s now another book on the market that tapped into that need. Good news/bad news. But you’ve also been handed clear guidelines for how your book needs to be unique to that already-published approach. So when you do submit it, it will grab an editor’s attention, and it will be carefully crafted to fill any gaps left by that other writer’s book, which will no doubt be a best seller which is bad. Well, no. That’s good…for that “other” writer.
You have to get a day job to supplement the $1.50 you cleared on writing last year after expenses. Oh, that’s bad. No, that could actually be good. A faculty member at a writers’ conference said, “I was advised years ago not to quit my day job until I no longer needed health insurance.” More hard words. But day jobs also offer insight into the human condition, which often shows up on the pages of our books. Real life is all research. Mourn if you must. But then stay alert for ways that the day job informs your writing.
Thumbs up for writers?
As they say, “It’s all fodder.” Everything that happens to us and around us–for perceived good or perceived bad–is material that will do one of two things–shift our direction or shape our character. Or both.
So keep watching for the immeasurably good that’s hiding behind what starts out sounding like, “Oh, that’s bad!”
Cynthia, this is a wonderful post!! Thank you for sharing it. Such a positive and uplifting perspective.
We all need a thumbs up once in a while, don’t we?
Really good, long term counsel. Thanks.
So appreciate this, Etta!
Great post, Cynthia. Thank you. Our willingness to glean course corrections from feedback is so critical. I’m reminded of the joke where the man praying for deliverance from a flood ignores the three boats because they weren’t what he’d expected. We need to be open to seeing what is actually beneficial advice couched within the words of rejection or criticism.
Great counsel, Maco.
Here’s a good news/bad news thing that pops right up for me, from the comment on no longer needing health insurance…
Dealing with pancreatic cancer and non-Hodgkins lymphoma without any medical care at all sometimes seems idiotic, especially the last few weeks when pain and other things have gone from vicious to ‘stand in the yard and scream’ (luckily, no close neighbours).
But there is a bright side to this, and I think I have survived far longer, having to depend on my own determination and faith. There are no long-faced doctors giving fell prognoses, no hours spent in waiting rooms to be treated rather like a denizen of an abattoir, no long evenings poring over insurance statements and trying to figure out how to pay the deductible…all of those things sap morale, and thus life.
No morphine, either, but that’s OK because it’s a depressant as well as a painkiller, and I need to be whole.
I’ll take the pain, and the clear-eyed view into what’s coming.
Sorry for the long exposition, and if anyone’s still here (and is interested), the reason for no medical care is no insurance. Can’t afford it, and if we could the deductibles would be very high, and I am not going to saddle Barb with a mountain of debt. I’ll die; she will live, and deserves the best start into a new life that I can give her.
And, well, there are other reasons why the worst of things have wrought the best of times…
Life has not gone as I planned,
and now, ere painful end,
I can begin to understand
that cancer’s been my friend.
My hasty heart has learned to pause
and behold the gossamer wings
of the butterfly whose soft applause
presages gentler things.
I would have raced on far ahead
to a future of fame and gain,
and would not, thus have raised my head
to taste the desert rain.
I can’t take self-pride to God above;
the sole treasure He admits is Love.
Always exceptions and always reasons. Appreciated.
This post was good. Only good. 🙂
Well put. Thanks.
Made me smile.
Great article. My rejection from a major Christian publisher (after making it all the way to the Pub Board) led me to self-publish which led to a best-seller which led to a recent deal with a movie production company to option three of my books. God knows what he’s doing with us. We just have to trust HIS plans ARE good.
Heather, I know you have just encouraged many writers!
I actually wrote an entire picture book Bible manuscript in the format you describe here–an angel and a demon go back and forth between “That’s good” or “That’s bad” as they try to get the last word interpreting the overarching Bible story.
So when I read about the keynote speaker using this format for an Old Testament presentation, all I could think was, “Oh no! That’s bad! It’s mine!”
Guess there are no original ideas under the sun! LOL!
So much truth, there!
And not only was it a general market children’s book, but about 25 years ago, I used the same method for a radio broadcast! Nothing new. Many things tweaked. 🙂
Such good advice, Cynthia. And a great reminder that Joseph dealt with the “good-bad” struggle, too.
Thank you, Marie.
Thanks for the reminder of that great talk at the Write to Publish conference. It’s a reminder for us as writers and for all of us as Christians that we don’t always see the big picture. We can be thankful that God does and that he wants what is best for us, even when our first impression might be “Oh, that’s bad.”
Ahh… Life is so rarely just one pure thing, right? Right!
Thanks for this reminder, Cynthia.