The Second Most Important Thing
By Greer Macallister | September 5, 2022 |
In talking with other writers, especially those early in their journey, I’ve often said that talent isn’t the most important thing. Talent, for the most part, is not actually what gets you published. Talent is great, don’t get me wrong, and your journey toward holding your published book in your hands will be easier if you have some. But plenty of talented writers write a great book and then, poof, it goes nowhere. They don’t succeed, and they quit.
I’m sure you see where this is going. The quitting is the problem. Far more important than talent is persistence.
So persistence is the most important thing. Nobody can stop you from being published but you. You keep trying, and you keep going, and you work hard, and maybe it takes three months or maybe it takes twenty-three years, but if you can stay with it despite rejections, setbacks, and maybe even some outright failures, you can make it happen.
But would it surprise you that talent isn’t even the second most important thing?
I was thinking about this as I dove back into the draft of the third novel in my epic fantasy series The Five Queendoms. Writing fantasy wasn’t in my original plan. Actually, writing four historical novels under the name Greer Macallister wasn’t in my original plan either — those of you who know me know there was actually a name before that and a novel before that, one that had little in common with my best-known and most successful work. It was published and I was thrilled, but sales were poor, and it became clear I wasn’t going to sell a book under that name again.
So the plan changed. Greer Macallister happened, and I’ve had nothing but success under that name, having a fabulous time writing historical fiction centered on extraordinary women. But then I got this “feminist Game of Thrones” idea I couldn’t shake, and the plan changed again: not leaving behind my historical fiction career, but branching out from it, adding on. Greer Macallister writes historical fiction and G.R. Macallister writes epic fantasy. It was an idea and now it’s a reality.
Persistence is the most important thing. But right behind it? Is flexibility.
When you’re pregnant, they highly recommend you come up with a birth plan, covering everything from when and whether you want to be offered an epidural to what music you want playing in the delivery room. But anyone who’s been through it knows that when push comes to shove (as it were), that birth plan goes out the window. There are just too many variables. You can’t control all the things you would need to control in order to follow that plan to the letter.
Your writing career is like that. You can and should plan for it: what do you want to write? How do you want to publish? But persistence doesn’t mean sticking to that plan come hell or high water. You need the persistence to see things through, but you also need the flexibility to figure out that if things aren’t working the way you want, you’ve got to find another path forward.
Q: Has your writing career required flexibility? Do you agree it’s almost, but not quite, as important as persistence?
Raised in the Midwest, Greer Macallister earned her MFA in creative writing from American University. Her historical novels have been named Book of the Month, Indie Next, LibraryReads, Target Book Club, and Amazon Best Book of the Month picks and optioned for film and television. Her latest novel, The Thirteenth Husband, is inspired by Aimee Crocker, the Paris Hilton of the Gilded Age. Macallister also writes the ongoing Five Queendoms epic fantasy series as G.R. Macallister. A regular contributor to Writer Unboxed and the Chicago Review of Books, she lives with her family in Boston, MA. www.greermacallister.com
So true, thanks for this encouraging post
Thanks for this inspiring post.
Greer, you’ve written a thought-provoking post. I think talent and persistence go hand-in-hand and complement each other: one can have talent and, as you said, their book goes nowhere without persistence; however, one can persist all they like, but without talent, their book also goes nowhere. And I don’t mean innate talent, I’m talking about book learned, as well. So I believe a one-two punch of talent and persistence belongs in the top spot. I totally agree with your second most important thing, though: the flexibility one must have to navigate the industry.
I agree with both your key qualities – persistence and flexibility. The publishing business is such a hard business. The number of rejections often way exceed the acceptances.
I have had to adapt in so many ways. From POV to character to my writing times and goals to the book I focus on at the moment. This is one industry where “roll with the punches” completely applies.
The way I think about it – if I didn’t write would I be happy. Then there’s no choice. I have to keep at it. Stay with it write the next book and the next book and take yeh journey where it wants to go.
A lot to think about here. Thanks for the post.
I did EVERYTHING on the first book in my mainstream trilogy. There was no detail too small to be learned.
But the second book is ready – except for a few tiny pieces I still have to do – and that is exactly where the flexibility came in. I had to get help for formatting and creating the actual cover. I asked a friend – he said he’d undertake the task – and I insisted on paying him properly. Because of health problems, I was STUCK in months of brain fog I couldn’t work through, couldn’t get around, couldn’t even bear to look at. Working with Bill Peschel as he handled my ideas and my nitpicking was a wonderful experience – I was able to do, when he needed it, bit by tiny bit – and he put them into final form.
I got exactly what I wanted – and will publish the instant I have a couple of free hours without brain fog – because I knew what I wanted: the formatting to be exactly what I set up for Book 1, and the cover to be what I would have done if I could move. It was hard getting some of the ideas across – he is endlessly patient. We persevered, and it will be uploaded very soon – as soon as I get two tiny problems to work out.
I’d still be staring at my computer screen, months after the second book was finished (this March), if I hadn’t reached out to the right person.
Very relatable post (to my life). As a first time author, I was thrilled to be published by a traditional non-fiction publisher in 2011. Fast forward three books and ten years later, I was exhausted from having to beg and plead with the same publisher for royalties which, yes, were still coming in but not being paid out. Now, as a battered but wiser veteran of the publishing world, I have gotten my rights back and I am back on course and about to self-publish a 3rd edition of my 1st book. I am excited to be in control of my own destiny.
Writing is as important as anything else in my life, and more important to me than my day job, so I will continue to approach it with the necessary dedication, flexibility and hard work it requires to keep it going. Thanks for the post and continued success in your own publishing journey.
Hah, love the birth plan analogy!