by Lisa Jordan, @lisajordan
A while ago, I came across this quote from Abraham Lincoln:
If I had eight hours to chop down a tree,
I’d spend six hours sharpening my ax.
When I read this, the first thing that popped into my head was a writer honing her craft.
Anyone who has spent any time in the publishing world knows the importance of learning writing craft in order to get that elusive book contract.
And it doesn’t happen overnight.
I’ve dabbled in writing since I was sixteen. Life had a way of filtering into my dreams of publication, taking me through detours on the way to achieving my writing goals. But now, I’ve been published for ten years. From the time I decided I wanted to be a writer to the time I signed that first contract, I learned three important lessons—publishing takes time, training, and tenacity. Like with any career worth having, there are no shortcuts. You need to dig in and do the work.
So let’s talk about those 3 Ts of sharpening your ax:
Time—Sometimes people want something so badly, they rush into a situation without being prepared. There’s a reason they keep getting those rejection letters. Sure, receiving those letters hurt, but editors and agents are looking for great writing, not mediocre. If you try to chop down a tree with a dull ax, you’re going to waste a lot of time and energy without getting very far. The same goes with writing a novel. If you don’t take the time to invest in your craft and your career, you’re going to collect a lot of rejection letters.
Training—I’ve been writing seriously for nearly two decades, slowly honing my craft…or sharpening my ax. Through those years, I’ve gleaned wisdom from wise mentors who have walked the road ahead of me. Two of the greatest bits of wisdom I’ve gathered were read what you want to write and learn the skills.
If you want to write romance novels, read as many as you can, especially if you want to write to a niche market. I write for Love Inspired, which is the Christian imprint of Harlequin, and my novels fall into the category romance niche. Writing a category novel is different than writing a trade-length novel, so I read more Love Inspired novels than I could count in order to understand the formula of writing a story the editors would accept…and the reader would buy.
Taking the time to do the training is a continuous journey of lifelong learning. Buy or borrow writing craft books. Read writing blogs. Attend writing conferences. Enroll in writing organizations. Follow editors and agents on social media. Then take what you’ve learned and put it into practice. It’s the only way to grow as a writer.
Tenacity. But I’ve also learned honing my craft isn’t limited to writing the best possible story. It also involves learning more about the publishing industry and hearing what agents and editors want. I met with an agent at a writer’s conference who told me she didn’t like to hear a writer say she had been writing only a year or so before pursuing publication. That agent wanted to see writers who took the time to sharpen their axes—learn the craft, get a feel for what publishing houses wanted, understand the sting of rejection, and be willing to get up the next day and do it all over again. Rejection hurts, but writers need to be willing to risk failure in order to savor the success of receiving that publishing contract and building a writing career. After all, wood cutters don’t walk away when one slice of the ax doesn’t knock down the tree. They continue swinging that ax until the tree has fallen. And they’ve done it with a very sharp ax.
Even though it can be frustrating and discouraging, take the time to sharpen your ax by investing in the time, training, and tenacity it takes to achieve your goals. You’ll be rewarded when it’s time to cut down your tree…or sign that publishing contract.
Your Turn: How long have you been writing? How long did it take you to receive your first contract? Knowing what you know now, what would you have done differently when you started?
Just-for-now could become forever…
They agreed to help each other out.
No one mentioned falling in love.
Back home after losing her job, Isabella Bradley plans to stay only long enough to save her father’s diner, but she can’t do it alone. Her childhood friend Tucker Holland has the perfect solution—he will renovate the diner if she’ll be a nanny for his twins. But as Isabella and Tucker reconnect, their arrangement begins to feel a lot less temporary…
Heart, home, and faith have always been important to Lisa Jordan, so writing stories with those elements come naturally. Represented by Cynthia Ruchti of Books & Such Literary Management, Lisa is an award-winning author for Love Inspired, writing contemporary Christian romances that promise hope and happily ever after. Her latest book, A Love Redeemed, released in September 2020. She is the operations manager for Novel Academy, powered by My Book Therapy. Happily married to her own real-life hero for over thirty years, Lisa and her husband have two grown sons. When she isn’t writing, Lisa enjoys family time, good books, and being creative with her friends. Visit her at lisajordanbooks.com.