My Way or the Highway?

This week was an amazing week. I got two positive nibbles from two different publishers on two different projects. Both asked for revisions, leaving me with a dilemma...

..."sell out" or stay stubborn?

As writers, we are wedded to many things. Some, like good grammar, spelling and punctuation and the integrity of our characters are worth staying stubborn for. Others, like format or market are less important.

Every writing endeavor and exercise can improve our skills and help us to grow as writers if we only approach it with the right frame of mind. If I cross my arms, knit my brow and shake my head, certain that my way is best, all I'm doing is depriving myself of the chance to grow as a writer. That's when I'm really selling out.

As you can probably tell, my dilemma lasted for only about thirty seconds, after which I settled on a third choice: evaluate. Can I do these things? Will they improve the quality of my work - and perhaps even my future work? In an age where publishers are closing their doors and form rejections outnumber nibbles (at least in my world), I chose to be grateful to the editors who saw a spark of promise in the work I submitted, and to feel blessed that they're willing to be patient as I continue to polish my work.

Time to do some revisions.