Falling Apart or Into Place

Writing and publishing, like life, can often be compared to a big box of jigsaw puzzle pieces.

It's easy to form the lower and upper edges along with the sides by finding the familiar, sticking to what's simpler to identify. With publishing, that often meant trying to follow the sage advice of others with more experience and knowledge, those who'd flourished at the time where only an agent got you where you wanted to be. When guidelines were followed and stuck to. Not so much nowadays. Forming the picture within, the final outcome, can take a lot of trial and error. This includes trying to fit pieces where they're not the best fit.

I tried that with Neverlove. I attempted to fit it into a pitch contest early last year. Seemed like the right thing to do, try and get the attention of a growing small press. It got no interest at all. None. No surprise since I have to admit it wasn't a 100% whole-hearted effort. Instead of being totally bombed about it, I took it as the beginning of a revival. I'd been considering self-publishing for a while. At the same time, I'd gotten back some AWESOME feedback on improving Neverlove and got into some great conversations with Gwen Gardner about self-publishing our novels and promoting them at the same time.

Brilliant!!

Far from falling apart, the puzzle pieces were falling into place, not forced or fitted into something someone else may have thought it would/should belong.

Have you ever experienced something where things seemed not to work but in actuality, they were setting the stepping stones for the path meant for you?