25 Reasons Why You're Stuck In The Slush Pile

Between blogging, novel writing and freelance projects, I don't have much time for reading online magazines, much less submitting to them. However, after reading Douglas A. Van Belle's essay via Colleen Lindsay on Twitter (who got the link from spec writer Brandon Bell), I just might have to subscribe to Andromeda Spaceways Inflight Magazine.

It is, without a doubt, one of the greatest essays on the craft of writing I've ever read. Seriously. It's freakin' brilliant. Every writer should have a copy of it bookmarked under their favorite websites and refer to it at least once a month. I'm quite certain that at least 90 percent of the writing population suffers from at least five or six (or ten) of the 25 ailments listed, if not all of them. I know for a fact that I'm totally guilty of Problems #1, 2, 10, 11, 12...um, let's just say I have a lot of work to do.

Anyway. Read it. Think about it. Did Van Belle hit the mark, miss it completely or something in between? Why do YOU think most writers never leave the slush pile? We'll go ahead and eliminate not following directions, since I've already written a post about that. Let the discussion begin!

Are You Better Than The Average Writer?

I'm not ashamed to say I'm a pretty faithful follower of literary agent Nathan Bransford's blog, and today's post is a perfect example of why that is. Take a look.

Is that not the most awesome conversation starter ever?! Needless to say, the discussion got very exciting very quickly. I love debates, so of course, I had to jump in and argue my case. There were quite a lot of comments, so for the sake of simplicity, I've reposted my thoughts on the issue below:

I'm surprised at how many people either "played it safe" with their answers or didn't answer at all. I answered "yes" right away, no hesitation. I don't consider that arrogant at all.

This is an industry that will eat your confidence for breakfast if you let it. In order to even get in the door, I have to convince you (the agent) to believe in my ability to tell a story. I have to sell my point-of-view to you. So, if I'm not confident that my work is better than average, why should I expect you to think it is?

I agree that it's difficult to tell the quality of someone's writing just from blog comments; personal blogs are a better indicator of that. However, I disagree that you can't know whether you're a good writer or not. I've seen enough "average" writing to know I'm better than average.

Do I still have a lot to learn? Absolutely. But I know my skill level. There's a difference between arrogance and confidence. Arrogant writers think they're perfect. Confident writers know where they need improvement, but they also know how they stand out from the crowd.

Hard work and "luck" aside, this business is all about standing out from the crowd.

Great question, Nathan! I had fun thinking about it!

Time for you guys and gals to share now. And let's tweak the question just a tad: Do you think you're better than the average writer...not just on this blog or any blog in particular, but better than the average writer in general? If yes, why? If no, why not?