So getting published is brutal. Nigh on impossible. Anyone who has attempted the gauntlet of agents and publishers knows it (except for those savants who find publishing auctions and bestseller status and critical acclaim right out of the gate. I hate you. Congrats!)

Rejection

It’s rational then to think about quitting. Sure, we’re told all the aphorisms and pithy support sentences from fellow writers and those who have never wrote a word: Keep trying! You can do it! Never quit! Never give up! Never say die! Never surrender! Which only goes to emphasize the notion of the entire process as waging a battle or war that is lopsided and a foregone conclusion.

What happens when we look critically at the idea of quitting our publishing aspirations? In creative circles, the goal is always to keep working, keep positive, and keep inspired. So it becomes slightly rebellious to think realistically, consciously, purposely about giving up. Maybe, just maybe, quitting is the smart move.

Let me back up. As some of you know from my posts here, I finished my first novel last year. For the past 6 months or so I’ve sent said novel out to agents representing this type of fiction. And for the past 6 months I have received rejections in return. So yes, I am in that juncture where quitting seems like a cross between the devil on my shoulder and sweet relief, like the longing to slip into warm sleep when hypothermic, sleep that also means submission to death.

But here’s the thing. I think quitting can be a judicious choice, one made on purpose and not forced by circumstance, and one that can lead to greater things in the future. All of us bookworms are constantly regaled by tales from any author worth their salt about their long path to publishing, one filled with rejection, abandoned drafts, and more. Sometimes, those abandoned drafts are quit to move on to better ideas and stories. Years down the line, when that author was published and successful, they returned to those stories and were able to bring them to the light of day.

My idea of quitting is this. I’ve given this book some time. I know realistically that this first novel of mine was in many ways an experiment, one that may still be amateurish, not ready for public consumption. I know also that I’ve learned tremendously from writing that novel. So this summer I plan to quit. I plan to put this finished book to the side, and begin another story that’s been percolating in my brain. I believe this book will be richer from my experiences in writing and submitting my first novel, and perhaps it might even be the one to get published. If not, maybe the next will. And sometime down the road, whether in a few months or a few years, I’ll return to this first novel. I’ll work on it with all that I’ve learned and lived. And damn, that novel will be good.

I’m going to quit. But I’m not going to quit from my publishing aspirations altogether. I’m merely going to quit this current iteration and effort, and move on to the next. Through this act of quitting, I think that I might one day find success.

What do you think? Is quitting a good idea? Is it a cop out?

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