MGH: After the cut are photos of manuscripts in various phases of completion.
I happened to be in NYC in 2000 when we got the contracts for our first novel, It Had to Be You.
Here, Tim’s signing the contract, which is on top of the manuscript.
Those are Timmy’s hands in the foreground.
This is not long before I started my LJ in 2004.
I think I’m editing a draft of Someone Like You in this one.
Two or three chapters left to write on A Coventry Christmas in February 2006.
By the end of that month, the final is ready to ship.
When You Don’t See Me ready to ship in January 2007.
A hopeful photo of what was at the time called A Coventry Finish,
with no idea of the coming storms and what this poor baby would endure before…
Renamed A Coventry Wedding, it’s ready to ship.
And what’s this?
Just a little something that was once called Moonlight and Roses
but is now being edited as Fool For Love.
Manuscript ships in a few days. Wish it luck!
Some Words to Struggling Writers
When I look back over the years, I realize what an amazing journey this has been. So many times I’ve said, and heard other authors say, how lucky we are to be published. That’s true, but it’s not just luck–which actually involves timing more than luck. We all know that I’m not thirty-five, and trust me, I was well on the other side of it when I finally found the right voice to write in. After that, it wasn’t luck but determination that kept me writing, either alone or with one to three other people.
I’m not unique. A lot of effort goes into what all novelists do. To not only persevere until a book is finished, but to then expend the energy it takes to get it published, is daunting. And when that wonderful thing happens and we do get published, we have to figure out how to sell to a shrinking market, when most of us would rather be quietly beginning our next project.
Sometimes writing has been drudgery. Sometimes it’s required more than I wanted to give. This business is tough, but those in it, from publishers to copy editors and everyone in between, love it. Even so, and despite being published, I’ve still had partials rejected by Kensington. I saw a novel that I love get released only to disappear because of Alyson’s publishing woes. I had a novel that I felt excited and challenged to write get past acceptance only to end up in limbo because Haworth was sold and the new owners don’t publish fiction. I’ve had ideas shot down by my writing partners. I’ve read bad reviews and even worse, no reviews in Places That Matter of our books. And heaven knows I’m not getting rich from what I do. Furthermore, there are millions and millions of people who’ll never know that I or my novels exist.
But in the end: None of the difficulties or what sometimes seem like insurmountable odds matter. I love writing. And for every disappointment, there have been countless celebrations. I think every editor who’s worked with me would say I’ve been professional and cooperative throughout the process of each book. I know all of them would say they get a manuscript that’s clean, and as an editor myself, I can’t emphasize enough what an asset that can be for a new or a seasoned writer. Not only do I trust my own relentless red pen, but I hand my work over to be proofed and edited by other people before a publisher ever sees it, and I always beg for brutal honesty.
I may not write the best books on the market, but I do my best with every book that has my writing in it. I think most other writers do, too, and they feel just as vulnerable and hopeful about their books as I do about mine. That’s why you’ve never read me tearing anyone else’s work apart. It would be like trampling on someone’s soul, and I’ll leave that to sterner critics than I am.
I know how discouraging this profession can be. Maybe what I should photograph are the completed but never-published novels, partials, proposals, and outlines that are in my garage and attic. Or the hundreds of rejection letters, all of which I’ve kept to remind me that sometimes hard work and perseverance won’t get me published–but writing nothing and not submitting sure won’t.
And frankly, in spite of bad days (or more recently, months), this is the most fun I can have without a prescription. Now somebody pass the Vicodin, ’cause mama just mailed off her manuscript and has an ice cream headache from sucking down a Starbucks mocha frappuccino while listening to FULL BLAST Everlast in the car.
I knew there was a reason I worship the ground you walk on. Lovely post.
I can’t look at that picture of me without hearing the Monchichi song in my head.
ROTFLMAO!!!!
Oh so soft and cud-de-ly!
I had NO idea what y’all were talking about. Thank goodness for YouTube.
Actually, I was wondering what shade your lips were.
His lips are a combination of TimShade and CheapCamera.
Can I get that at Walgreens?
Only from Mother Nature.
FOILED AGAIN!
So in other words, that’s the Real TimShady?
(Eek, I can’t believe I just said that. Oh wait, yes I can.)
But seriously, thanks for this post (and thanks for asking her for it, Mark). I consider myself extremely fortunate to know and be edited by you and Tim. Now one of these days I hope we’ll actually get to be in the same room….
I so hope that comes to pass–I know you’ll be missed by your anthology brothers at S&S.
hahahah
i thought that hair was awfully cute on you!
tho i do have a special love for those little monkeys… 😉
You are an inspiration, Ms. Cochrane.
GO Fool For Love!
Nercu.
Which is ACTUALLY “Merci” if you can find your home row.
It makes me really happy to read journals like this. It makes my heart happy to see that even though the market is shrinking, there are still people out there who love and respect the written word. Thanks so much for sharing these with us!
That market will expand again. Remember you heard it here first.
“I’m not unique. A lot of effort goes into what all novelists do. To not only persevere until a book is finished, but to then expend the energy it takes to get it published, is daunting. And when that wonderful thing happens and we do get published, we have to figure out how to sell to a shrinking market, when most of us would rather be quietly beginning our next project.”
What a lovely post – so insightful and, as always, I’m in awe of you getting your works published and read.
Thanks for sharing your feelings and the photographs (never seen Tim with short hair before! *chuckle*).
You’re welcome. I remember that visit to NYC. I drove there and was lost in Manhattan, having taken the wrong tunnel in after screwing up at the toll booths out of New Jersey, so Tim led me to him via my cell phone. He said he’d be on a specific corner and would jump in the car and help me find a place to park.
When he got into my backseat, even though I hadn’t seen him for months and my heart was thrilled to see him again, all I could say was, “Your HAIR. You cut off all your HAIR.”
He’s a man of many looks, that Tim.
Can’t improve on some of the comments already made: this post is a keeper, Becky! I’m dropping it into my LJ memory box full of 250-300 fantastic posts about writing, most of which came from Doug Clegg and Poppy Z. Brite over the last three years. It faces reality head-on yet somehow remains encouraging. Great!
P.S. Tim is a babe! 😉 How can you sit across a table from him and work without being thoroughly distracted?
Thank you for all your kind words.
Regarding Tim: I observe all the things that are appealing about him and use them in my writing! I’M A USER. There, I said it, and I’m not sorry.
Seriously, blended into some half-dozen or so characters is a lot of Tim. I try not to tell him this too often or get too specific, however, because I don’t want him to get all self-conscious about it.