Fiction Writer Hint

Monday's interviewee said:

"I've heard this advice, in various forms, and I can say it's been so true in my case: focus on the writing, and the publication part will come. We concentrate so much on getting that contract: searching for an agent, trying to find out what's selling, trading information about editor moves and the latest deals. If we put all that effort into actual writing or editing—instead of pursuing publication—we'd ironically be much closer to getting published. I don't know what it is, but I think some manuscripts say, "I'm desperate to be published." And some manuscripts say, "I have a story to tell." And publishers don't want the desperate kind. In my own case, I didn't get a publishing deal until I let go of all the worries and said, "You know what? It doesn't really matter if I ever get published, because I'm going to keep writing anyway." Within a month of saying that very thing to myself, I had a publishing deal."