Comments on: The Threshold

By: Ashley Lewison

Ashley Lewison — Fri, 15 Apr 2011 03:47:19 +0000

Another good blog that I search from Yahoo. I appreciate the way this is written.

By: antalya homes

antalya homes — Sun, 21 Mar 2010 21:06:40 +0000

some of those notes were encouraging. Occasionally, her hard work was rewarded by the publication of an article. To those waiting for her instant success, the successes were not enough

By: bookmarking demon

bookmarking demon — Wed, 17 Mar 2010 19:49:19 +0000

I guess the day one of them offers a contract, they’ll become the hero! The article you quoted sums up the new century so well!

By: NikoleHahn

NikoleHahn — Wed, 10 Mar 2010 15:45:00 +0000

As Nikki pushed reluctantly into adulthood, she realized she was not the greatest writer in the world and publishers were not waiting, pens aready, to sign her up on a book contract. Determined and wearing her heart on her sleeve, she wrote and sent en mass. Her file became thick with rejection notes, but some of those notes were encouraging. Occasionally, her hard work was rewarded by the publication of an article. To those waiting for her instant success, the successes were not enough. To Nikki, these successes were by no means small. A writer, she realized, is a soldier boring through the slush pile with a heart revealed to the world’s censure or applause.

Then, one day, she matured. She thanked God she did not get any major publishing contract at so young an age. Her stories became more in depth as trial after trial plagued her life. Writing became her journey, her ministry, and her life. No mountain appeared too daunting to try to climb.

By: LeAnne Hardy

LeAnne Hardy — Wed, 10 Mar 2010 14:43:18 +0000

I decided early on to not complain about publishers taking a long time to consider. It usually meant my work had gotten past the guardian of the slush pile and was getting multiple reads. Sometimes I even got suggestions of alternate publishers to query, often ones I had already queried. Sigh. Eventually, a publisher took 4 books, and I have found them very gracious even when they have turned down several things since. A manuscript I am currently trying to place comparing a child with HIV to a superhero says, “Sometimes superheroes have to do things they don’t like. They wouldn’t be superheroes if it wasn’t hard.” I guess that applied to me as a writer too.

By: Teri Dawn Smith

Teri Dawn Smith — Wed, 10 Mar 2010 04:14:20 +0000

Great post! I think it helps immensely to look at the agents and editors as threshold guardians. Any time an agent or editor teaches us, blogs, or takes the time in a one-on-one appointment to give feedback, I think they become a mentor. I guess the day one of them offers a contract, they’ll become the hero! The article you quoted sums up the new century so well!

By: Lynn Dean

Lynn Dean — Wed, 10 Mar 2010 02:05:07 +0000

I can so relate to all that has been said!

My “gatekeepers” are the various aspects of the craft that keep me on a near vertical learning curve. But along the way, so many in ACFW have been kinder to me than I deserved. I am referring not only to fellow writers, but also to two editors who, instead of sending form rejections, took the time to communicate with me personally, point me to the next step in the journey, and invite me to resubmit. They were not gatekeepers, but mentors.

By: Judy Gann

Judy Gann — Tue, 09 Mar 2010 19:43:32 +0000

Love your “hero’s journey approach to this subject.

I feel I’m taking baby steps across a new threshold–writing fiction. At the moment, my biggest obstacles are within myself.

As for an ally, the first person who comes to mind is Nick Harrison. Wendy, I think you’ll agree that Nick continues to champion one of my manuscripts–long after his publishing house rejected it.

By: Britt

Britt — Tue, 09 Mar 2010 19:03:41 +0000

I almost stumbled on the threshhold but thankfully, I pushed on through. Now, I’m working on accepting criticism and honing my craft.

This is the NOW generation. I speak about this very topic all the time in my Sunday School class.

By: sally apokedak

sally apokedak — Tue, 09 Mar 2010 16:09:03 +0000

some of the most ferocious gatekeepers

That made me laugh.

Great post, though.

To answer your questions: I have stepped over the threshold and the gatekeepers have not been ferocious at all. They’ve been gracious. Gatekeepers, still, but not mean in any way.

The thing that has blocked my path has not been a gatekeeper but my own writing. I can’t say I haven’t been allowed to send queries. I’ve sent queries that didn’t get any interest. I can’t say I haven’t been invited to send partials and fulls. I’ve sent those and they haven’t been snapped up. It’s not that people weren’t willing to give my work a look. It’s that my work was not ready or it wasn’t tailored properly to the audience I was aiming at.

To meet that challenge I didn’t submit for many years. I read fiction and “how to” books, I went to conferences and always submitted work for critique at those, I studied the publishing industry, and I submitted very lightly. This year (ten years in–I’m a slow learner) I’ve started submitting with fervor. I’m now aiming at a market I know pretty well and at agents I’ve researched pretty deeply.

I have never had a gatekeeper become a mentor, though several have been generous with encouragement. I wish that more agents and editors would be able to find the time to mentor writers.