Cintia asked Jim C. Hines:

I'm an aspiring writer, but I'm dealing with two things: I get discouraged every single day because 96% of manuscripts are rejected, and I haven't had an idea for years, literally. There's too many people wanting to be writers, and knowing there's so much competition just kills me a little every day. When I get motivated, immediatly something appears about the industry that kills it. Any tips on how to deal with this?

Jim C. Hines Hi Cintia,

I don't have an easy answer for you, I'm afraid. This can be a very frustrating and discouraging business to try to break into. I've got a box of about 500 rejection letters, and most of the "successful" writers I know have something similar. Which is just to say, I think most writers sympathize with what you're feeling, and know what you're going through.

And there are a lot of writers out there, but I'd encourage you not to think of them as competition. It's not a zero-sum game, and one writer's success doesn't hurt others. (Sometimes one writer's success can actually help, either by bringing publishers income they can use to take chances on new writers, or by getting readers excited about reading more stories.)

For me, one of the keys was getting back to why I *wanted* to write. I stopped worrying as much about writing "publishable" stories, and just had fun. Ironically, those were the stories that ended up being publishable.

Be patient and kind with yourself. Find what you love about writing, and focus on that. And maybe chat with some other writers? It can help a lot to connect and vent with people who understand what you're going through.

All the best,
Jim

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