Okay, look.
Jan. 4th, 2015 01:26 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
agilebritI am a 51-year-old female conservative fundamentalist Christian who writes science fiction and fantasy.
If you think I don't feel marginalized, dismissed, and disrespected in a genre that I've loved since I was 13, you are freaking delusional.
That being said.
Do you think I'm going to let that stop me from realizing my dreams? Do you think I'm going to let other people determine my fate? Especially with the options we have today?
If you answered "yes" to that, then you are also freaking delusional.
In this business, you are the captain of your own ship. If you sit there and wring your hands about how "marginalized" you are, rather than writing your best work and then sending it out to let it stand or fall on its merits, that is no one's fault but yours. Don't wait for damn permission. Just send it.
It really does take ten years to be an overnight sensation. Hone your craft, put your nose to the grindstone, and stop whining about the work. Do you seriously think this is easy for anyone? And if none of the publishers will touch your stuff, and you believe in it that hard, then for the love of God and little green apples, self-publish it and let it find its own audience.
Don't self-reject on the basis that no one is interested in hearing your voice. If I did that, I'd never have even gotten off the ground. In today's climate, where editors are falling all over themselves screaming for "diverse" voices (even though they sort of kind of actually pretty much definitely leave out the "diversity" that I represent, go figure), there is no excuse. Seriously, read the guidelines of just about any SFF publication out there. They're begging on bended knee for diverse voices. Take advantage of that!
WRITE. SUBMIT. WRITE. SUBMIT.
Corollary: Grow rhino skin. Don't take this stuff personally, or it will destroy you.
That is the only way to make it in this ridiculous, brutal, ridiculously brutal business.
If you think I don't feel marginalized, dismissed, and disrespected in a genre that I've loved since I was 13, you are freaking delusional.
That being said.
Do you think I'm going to let that stop me from realizing my dreams? Do you think I'm going to let other people determine my fate? Especially with the options we have today?
If you answered "yes" to that, then you are also freaking delusional.
In this business, you are the captain of your own ship. If you sit there and wring your hands about how "marginalized" you are, rather than writing your best work and then sending it out to let it stand or fall on its merits, that is no one's fault but yours. Don't wait for damn permission. Just send it.
It really does take ten years to be an overnight sensation. Hone your craft, put your nose to the grindstone, and stop whining about the work. Do you seriously think this is easy for anyone? And if none of the publishers will touch your stuff, and you believe in it that hard, then for the love of God and little green apples, self-publish it and let it find its own audience.
Don't self-reject on the basis that no one is interested in hearing your voice. If I did that, I'd never have even gotten off the ground. In today's climate, where editors are falling all over themselves screaming for "diverse" voices (even though they sort of kind of actually pretty much definitely leave out the "diversity" that I represent, go figure), there is no excuse. Seriously, read the guidelines of just about any SFF publication out there. They're begging on bended knee for diverse voices. Take advantage of that!
WRITE. SUBMIT. WRITE. SUBMIT.
Corollary: Grow rhino skin. Don't take this stuff personally, or it will destroy you.
That is the only way to make it in this ridiculous, brutal, ridiculously brutal business.
