Writers Ask: Is my work “literary” enough?
The problem with the hand-wringing over what is considered literary and what is not has everything to do with the power dynamics and who’s talking to who and almost nothing to do with what the work actually is. Agents and editors who are trying to convince the powers in place to buy your manuscript so everyone can get a big pay out are going to use terms that remind the powers that be of money. Commercial, page-turning, bestseller material, book club pick… in other words, upmarket. When it’s awards season, these agents and editors (and now publishers) will take that same book and suddenly begin selling it as brilliant, wickedly talented, sparkling, a great American novel, a story of our times… in other words, literary.
Writers Ask: How do I know when it’s time to move on?
At the time of your question, I had spent over four years with that book manuscript we spoke of. Four years and four major revisions and a year of querying and a year of full requests from agents and a year of requests for revisions from those agents, one of which came through an exciting and debilitating phone call, all of which resulted in painful passes. When you asked your question, I had gone a year without looking at that manuscript, without thinking about it, not because I just didn’t want to but because it was depressing and I needed to be in a state of not depressing for just a little bit.
Writers Ask: How many pieces do you produce in a year?
Some years are just more productive than others. Some years you’re not relocating your life. Some years you’re not writing a novel. Some years you’re feeling pretty good. Other years, you’re low in the lowest lows of rejection. Just last November, I was wallowing and complaining to my husband about how I’d had nothing published that year. That was less than six months ago. I’ve had two stories and two essays published since. I am in the middle of a very good year and I am going to take this year and run with it. I am going to celebrate as much as I can because next year, or even next month, may not be nearly as good as right now.