Hallo, Hallo dear hearts!
Happy New Year, for those who are just returning to visiting book bloggers and blog tours this January! It has been a unique beginning to 2020 I must admit – as the tides of current of events took its toll on my reading life these past few weeks of the New Year. It was hard to see a lot of positivity in the mix when you had so much weighing on all our minds & hearts each time we tried to see if anything new had emerged – especially in regards to the weather patterns affecting America right now or the bushfires affecting all areas of life in Australia.
I’ve been returning to blogging at a bit of a slower pace this month – selecting the stories I want to be reading, sorting out topics to explore during #TopTenTuesday and launching my chat @SatBookChat this weekend as well – kicking off the start of our sixth year chatting about books & finding ways to unite the reading & writing community of Twitter.
When it came time to select a topic for this blog tour – I inadvertently sorted out the topic a bit too late to turn in and was thankfully blessed by a topic of interest provided by the author herself. I think all of us who are writers have this topic come up in our hearts time after time – especially as the journey towards publication & the journey towards better self-confidence in our own writings can be a longer journey than most people realise.
Broyles shares an honest glimpse into how this series reached publication & the ways in which she used those months & years ahead of seeing her stories in print. We are each given our own trials to transition through – none of us are free of dreams being placed on hold or having to take a harder road to see them realised. The beauty of the post she’s given me to share today is how uplifting & encouraging it is to read for anyone who is seeking to turn their writings into a publishing career.
I hope this topic encourages your writerly pursuits inasmuch as it let’s you take a second look at what goes into writing the stories you enjoy reading.
The Saga of David and Secret Heir series series:
The Secret Heir (book one)
The Runaway Heir (book two)
→ The Anointed Heir (book three) *forthcoming release!
Published by: Heritage Beacon Fiction (@heritagefiction)
an imprint of Lighthouse Publishing of the Carolinas (@LPCTweets)
Converse via: #HistFic or #HistNov; #KingDavid
+ #Biblical #HistoricalFictionand #HFVBTBlogTours
Available Formats: Trade paperback and Ebook
From Sting to Success: Using Rejection to Improve Writing
by Janice Broyles
We hit the send button, then sit back and wait and fret and wait and check our inbox and wait some more. After weeks or even months of waiting in anticipation of the golden words “Send me more” or “I’d love to talk to you about representation,” we hear the ding of new mail. Unfortunately, more often than not, we open the email to read something along the lines of, “Thanks. It’s not for me.”
Rejection is a part of the publishing world as much as inspiration is a part of writing. There are some of us who write simply for the joy of it and are content to have our close circle of family and friends read our work. Many of us, however, write not only for the joy of the practice, but we write to share our stories with the everyday reader, the stranger, the person whose life will be more complete by reading our work. We write so that many more can share in our worlds and imaginary tales.
Grandiose? Maybe.
Probable? Maybe not.
Worth a shot? You betcha.
The sting of rejection may hurt initially, but with the right mindset and the proper motivation, that sting can lead to success. Before my books saw “the light of day,” I endured large numbers of rejections. I thought it would be cute to count the rejections, so that when I finally saw success I could look back on the number with a smile. After the 200th rejection, I decided to stop counting. That was approximately eight years ago. However, what I did continue to do was learn the craft. I studied books on how to write, and I attended writer’s conferences where I could network and continue learning. Even though the rejections were hard to take, they did help me become a better writer. My David books are actually the seventh and eighth completed novels that I wrote. All the others are still in the files of my computer. Every time I hold The Secret Heir and The Runaway Heir in my hands, I am filled with gratitude. I know that the publication of this series is a testament to all of the years of rejection and hard work and the sheer determination to simply not quit.
For those of you who wear the hat of “writer,” let me encourage you to not give up. Rejections will come, but there are lessons to learn from them. I learned that sometimes my work wasn’t ready yet. I learned that critique groups were invaluable when it came to tightening up the manuscript. Rejections actually helped me improve my writing and gave me a resilience to continue writing no matter what.
And for those of you who wear the hat of “reader,” let me encourage you to hug a writer today. Rumor has it that we’ve been rejected a time or two.
Janice Broyles is the author of The Secret Heir and The Runaway Heir,
a historical series that retells the story of David and Michal.
This blog tour is courtesy of:
Follow the Virtual Road Map
as you visit others participating:
As this particular one has a bookaway along the route:
NOTE: Similar to blog tours wherein I feature book reviews, book spotlights (with or without extracts), book announcements (or Cover Reveals) – I may elect to feature an author, editor, narrator, publisher or other creative person connected to the book, audiobook, Indie film project or otherwise creative publishing medium being featured wherein the supplemental content on my blog is never compensated monetarily nor am I ever obligated to feature this kind of content. I provide (98.5%) of all questions and guest topics regularly featured on Jorie Loves A Story. I receive direct responses back to those enquiries by publicists, literary agents, authors, blog tour companies, etc of whom I am working with to bring these supplemental features and showcases to my blog. I am naturally curious about the ‘behind-the-scenes’ of stories and the writers who pen them: I have a heap of joy bringing this content to my readers. Whenever there is a conflict of connection I do disclose those connections per post and disclose the connection as it applies.
{SOURCES: Book covers for “The Secret Heir” and “The Runaway Heir””, author biography, author photograph of Janice Broyles, the tour host badge and HFVBTs badge were all provided by Historical Fiction Virtual Book Tours and used with permission. Post dividers badge by Fun Stuff for Your Blog via Pure Imagination. Tweets were embedded due to codes provided by Twitter. Blog graphics created by Jorie via Canva: Guest Contributor and/or Reviewer of JLAS banner and the Comment Box Banner.}
Copyright © Jorie Loves A Story, 2020.
I’m a social reader | I tweet my reading life
A New Year, a new #blogtour via @HFVBT featuring a #Biblical #HistoricalFiction series – this #guestpost about @JaniceBroyles1 path to publication is an uplifting #SundayMorning post for all writers #amwriting & wondering about their path #WritingCommunity https://t.co/V1yOhCZ3oz
— Jorie, the Joyful Tweeter ?? (@joriestory) January 12, 2020
What beautiful covers. These looks so interesting will have to look them up
Hallo, Hallo Mir!
Thanks for dropping by my blog during the David Saga blog tour! :) I don’t oft get to seek out Biblical Historical Fiction stories – this one truly left an impression on me at the start of the series? Did you see my review for The Secret Heir? I hope if you get the chance to pick them up to read, you’ll find the stories to your liking. Thank you for giving this lovely feedback! I will be visiting with you soon on your blog, as well.
Thank you so much for hosting this great post, Jorie! We appreciate the support!
Amy
HF Virtual Book Tours