Accepting Judgement

When I started writing my manuscript in January of 2012, I was writing it for me. It was nothing more than a personal project. A story of two best friends and a mysterious stalker filled my mind until it practically busted onto the page. After six months of writing, I reached out to other writers. That is when I realized I wanted to share my story with the world. Now, a year later, I am composing dozens of drafts of query letters, piecing together a synopsis, and searching for an agent. When I first started writing, I was not familiar with Erica Jong's quote, but I am glad my story started out as a personal project. If I had tried to write my story for the world, it may never have been finished.


A fear of being judged is something that plagues everyone. Once I decided to pursue traditional publishing, the pressures of others weighed on me. I worked on this manuscript for a year and a half. Having someone discredit or dislike my work frightened me at first. I did not want to be judged. Now I realize that I will be judged. I could be the best author in the world who wrote the most amazing piece of fiction and even then, I would still have critiques who could not stand my work. Rejection and judgement are a major part of the writing and publishing process. Experts in the field say, the sooner you realize that the better. I never thought I would be okay with accepting rejection and judgement. I figured I would be that girl who balled her eyes out at the sight of that first rejection letter. (For the record, I did not shed a single tear!) Instead, I saw it as an opportunity to better my work and try again.

I sent out my second batch of query letters yesterday. There is no guarantee that an agent will request more of my work or even send a form rejection letter, but I would rather try and fail than be paralyzed by a fear of judgement and do nothing.


So what do you think? Does a fear of being judged keep you from writing? Let me know in the comments!



Reference (because plagiarizing isn't cool)

Jong, E. (2013, August 24). Top 20 writing quotes and inspirational pins. Retrieved from http://blog.ezinearticles.com/2013/08/top-20-writing-quotes-and-inspirational-pins.html