Inspiration Hunting in the Publishing World with Sonali Dev
Posted By Jennifer Tanner On March 6, 2013 @ 12:24 am In Motivation,Romance University | 31 Comments
I’m thrilled to introduce soon-to-be debut author Sonali Dev [2]! Today, we’ll hear Sonali’s insightfully candid tale on how doubt and fear propelled her toward her dream of publication.
Great to have you here, Sonali!
Thank you so much, Jen, for having me. At my very first Local RWA meeting Tracey Devlyn introduced me to RU and I’ve been hooked ever since. So, it really means a lot to be here.
I’m going to go ahead and start with an admission that might certify me as crazy. Last month I accepted my first book deal and the most phenomenal thing about that for me has been how much easier it suddenly is to open my email. Seriously. In the two years that it took me to sell my book, the simple act of clicking on the Inbox had pitched itself so painfully between the axe of rejection and the chopping block of hope that when the final email from my editor arrived, I found myself unable to make that single click. My dear husband had to ride in on his white horse and do the deed and announce those words I’d been dying to hear: ‘He wants to know when he can call you.’
High drama, I know. But if you’re blasting out those queries, those partials, those fulls and then crossing every digit in anticipation, you know exactly what I’m talking about. Unfortunately, I have no advice on how to stave off the terror of opening those responses, but I can share how I survived hitting bottom and hovering in its vicinity through two years of submissions. I did it by making a concerted effort to stay inspired. I hunted inspiration with the same zeal I employed in smashing out those words and chiseling down that prose. So, in no particular order, here are the top five moments of inspiration that propped me up and kicked my butt over that first, most daunting bump.
I’ll have what Hanna’s having.
For the entire first year of sending out queries all I heard was crickets. But in the span of that year I became part of the Aphrodites, a wonderful group of writers who like me were consumed by the dream. When we first banded together, Hanna Martine, our only published member, in an attempt to rally our sagging spirits shared with us the experience of having belonged to another group of aspiring writers five years ago. They had supported each other and cheered each other on and now every one of them was published. It was like someone had thrown me a line of reality as I thrashed about in the waves of make-believe. Other people’s successes make our dreams real, seek them out and gulp down their Kool-Aid like manna from heaven.
[3]Michael, where’s my essence?
At my first RWA National conference in New York, I made the mother of all newbie errors. I made a pitch appointment with the wrong editor. This editor took only category length romances, and naturally since I don’t write those I did not get a request. I slunk into a workshop heartbroken at my colossal stupidity. It happened to be Michael Hague’s brilliant Story Structure workshop. Slumped in my chair listening to him talk about taking protagonists from living in their identity to blossoming into their essence, I was struck full force by a challenge he tossed out. ‘Go out today and do something you would never normally do,’ he told us. ‘There is great power in breaking out of our identities.’ What I did with his advice still makes me cringe a little. I stalked an editor and ‘ran into her’ and then pitched my book and got a full request. Now, I will say here that I was extremely polite and sensitive and she was delightful, not to mention, unharmed. The request did not win me a sale, but what it did do was teach me that I had some control, a little power. That just because I lost one chance to stupidity, didn’t mean I couldn’t get a second chance, and a third and a fourth, and that, really, I had to make that happen myself.
Look at me, Jason, I suck.
After I had edited my manuscript a few thousand times and the saga of rejections continued, I was ready to beg passing strangers for advice on how to make it better. That’s when I read an interview with Jason Reitman, the Oscar nominated director of Juno. When asked what he watched for inspiration, he responded (and I paraphrase) that while the great masters of filmmaking did inspire him, it was watching crappy films that really kept him going. His reasoning was that if that kind of shit made it, surely he could do better. It was the most freeing thing I’d ever read. If everyone waited for their work to reach genius levels nothing would ever get made or published.
The first step is to take a step, the levels it reaches, is a problem for tomorrow not today. I learned that unless I had the courage to suck, I had no chance at success.
You brought me hope, Hope.
Despite all my inspiration hunting, there was one brief, dark interlude when the journey wearied me so much I actually lost my will to write. The idea of my writing amounting to something became so laced with the world’s response to it that I needed a breather. It was the perfect time to attended Lady Jane’s Salon, where romance writers read from their work. It’s always a blast to watch these seemingly staid women read the sexy, funny scenes they’ve crafted. Hope Tarr read this wonderful scene from her historical, Temptation, where the gruff, cynical (not to mention hot) hero gifts the heroine a puppy. It was a scene aching with the magical promise of coming love. And it made me want to run home and type out some magic of my own. It reminded me that there is a reason I tell these stories, it’s because I love them, and nothing was more inspiring than experiencing first hand that very thing I was trying to weave into my own stories.
Tell me you love me. Again.
While hearing authors read their work is one of my favorite things to do, reading for an audience turns me into blob of nerveless jelly sucking on her inhaler. But reading aloud is part of being a writer and it was a bump I had to overcome. So I gathered my guts and read aloud at my local RWA chapter’s critique night. And I experienced something I will always carry with me – complete absorbed silence. It was the most beautiful sound in the world. In a business where so much of the noise is about what stinks about your work (and I’m told some reviews need battle grade armor) the joy of someone loving it balances out the deepest gashes.
By seeking to publish our work we take a personal joy and turn it into an ego-driven popularity contest. And to succeed at it we must consciously keep our writing-related egos healthy. Every little thing that strokes it keeps us in the game and propels us forward. Every kind word anyone has ever said about my writing, every perfect score on a contest, that’s what quelled the brutal self-doubt I know plagues us all and that above all else inspired me to stick with my dream.
So, go on, be an inspiration-huntress. It is the spoils of your hunt that will raise you up to where you can grab your dream.
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How do you pull yourself up by the bootstraps and keep going?
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Loucinda McGary joins us on Friday, March 8th for another installation of Novel Spots.
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Bio: Sonali Dev’s earliest attempts at writing involved being caught writing couplets about her first grade math textbook instead of doing her homework. It took her years to figure out that wanting to write down every thought that popped into her head probably meant she was a writer. Five years in architecture school with professors yelling “sketches not words” finally got the point across and she embraced her mad love for words. A love she combines with her love for Bollywood films to conjure up stories that make a crazy tangle with her life as wannabe supermom, domestic goddess, and disgruntled corporate minion. Sonali lives in the Chicago suburbs with her very patient and often amused husband and two children who demand both patience and humor, and of course her characters who can’t stop doing Bollywood dances inside her head.
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Article printed from Romance University: http://romanceuniversity.org
URL to article: http://romanceuniversity.org/2013/03/06/inspiration-hunting-in-the-publishing-world-with-sonali-dev/
URLs in this post:
[1] Tweet: http://twitter.com/share?counturl=http%3A%2F%2Fromanceuniversity.org%2F2013%2F03%2F06%2Finspiration-hunting-in-the-publishing-world-with-sonali-dev%2F
[2] Sonali Dev: http://sonalidev.com/
[3] Image: http://romanceuniversity.org/wp-content/uploads/2013/03/Sonali-Dev1.jpg
[4] Twitter: https://twitter.com/Sonali_Dev
[5] Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/SonaliDev.author
[6] Weekly Lecture Schedule: March 4 – March 8, 2013: http://romanceuniversity.org/2013/03/02/weekly-lecture-schedule-march-4-march-8-2013-2/
[7] The Rhythm of Language with Cari Quinn: http://romanceuniversity.org/2012/10/31/the-rhythm-of-language-with-cari-quinn/
[8] Surviving ‘Nearly There’ with Anna Sugden: http://romanceuniversity.org/2013/02/08/surviving-nearly-there-with-anna-sugden/
[9] My Path to Publication; or, How I Hacked and Slashed my way Through the Uncharted Jungle of Novel Publishing: http://romanceuniversity.org/2011/03/28/my-path-to-publication-or-how-i-hacked-and-slashed-my-way-through-the-uncharted-jungle-of-novel-publishing/
[10] A Dose of Inspiration: http://romanceuniversity.org/2010/01/08/a-dose-of-inspiration/
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31 Comments To "Inspiration Hunting in the Publishing World with Sonali Dev"
#1 Comment By Helena Fairfax On March 6, 2013 @ 7:38 am
Hi Sonali, I just wanted to tell you how much I loved your post. It’s absolutely terrible to have your work rejected, but your response is wonderfully positive. I also love your turn of phrase (the quivering jelly with an inhaler made me laugh out loud)and am looking forward very much to the release of your novel. If this is how you write then the publishers who rejected you were fools! You’ve also inspired me to keep going. Although I’m having my first two novels published this year (which is brilliant), I’ve recently started thinking this is it-I can’t write anything else and I suck. Reading your post has given me the strength to keep going through the suckiness! Thanks and good luck!
#2 Comment By Sia Huff On March 6, 2013 @ 7:51 am
Many congratulations, Sonali. I’m happy for you. I’d love to go to Lady Jane’s Salon. I don’t think there’s one in Atlanta, so I’ll need to see what ones closest. It sounds like fun.
Wishing you many sales.
#3 Comment By Sonali Dev On March 6, 2013 @ 8:01 am
Thanks, Helena, you made me tear up.
Congratulations and good luck with your novels, Yay!!
Now touch the screen and repeat after me, “I do not suck!”
It’s just the process, darling, not you.
Hugs,
Sonali
#4 Comment By Mary Jo Burke On March 6, 2013 @ 8:07 am
Hi Sonali,
Congratulations!!! The idea that some major crap gets published and made into movies is indeed inspiration. The best question to ask: what’s the title of your book?
Mary Jo
#5 Comment By Carrie Spencer On March 6, 2013 @ 8:24 am
Morning Sonali!
How great to have you here as a guest! =) And congratulations on your upcoming release – how exciting! I’m so glad you stuck with it AND overcame the doubts and doubt makers. It’s so hard to keep pushing against the rejection….
Best of luck with your book Sonali – great post!
carrie
#6 Comment By Sonali Dev On March 6, 2013 @ 9:04 am
Thanks, Sia!
I hope you find one, because they really are fun.
-Sonali
#7 Comment By Sonali Dev On March 6, 2013 @ 9:12 am
Thanks, Mary Jo!
I wish I could tell you
The working title is The Bollywood Bride but it will be published under a new title. Trust me, you’ll know as soon as we finalize one.
Sonali
#8 Comment By Adrienne Giordano On March 6, 2013 @ 9:51 am
Hello, Sonali! How exciting to see you here at RU. Congrats on your first sale. And thank you for the terrific Lady Jane’s Salon plug.
I love this post. Particularly the “Look at me, Jason, I suck.” Unfortunately for me (and I’m sure a lot of other writers) self-doubt tends to show up at the most horrible times. I’m not sure it ever goes away, but I think pushing through it makes us stronger. And each time it happens I remind myself I’ve been there before and it makes me work harder.
One of my own ways to battle self-doubt is to read a passage from any book written by one of my favorite authors. I read their work and it inspires me to get better.
#9 Comment By Blythe Gifford On March 6, 2013 @ 10:01 am
So thrilled about your sale! (And I think the title is perfect. Hope they keep it.)
I agree about the motivation (not to say inspiration!) of Bad Books. The truly great ones intimidate me.
Of course, my current WIP is looking pretty feeble at the moment. That’s when it helps to look back at previous work, polished, (not to say published) and think “Hey! Not too bad. I can do this.”
#10 Comment By Adrienne Giordano On March 6, 2013 @ 12:08 pm
Amen, Blythe!
#11 Comment By Sonali Dev On March 6, 2013 @ 12:10 pm
Thanks Carrie for having me, I’m so thrilled to be here!
I don’t know if I would say ‘overcame’ exactly. I suspect this inspiration-hunting business is going to be an ongoing endeavor.
-Sonali
#12 Comment By Sonali Dev On March 6, 2013 @ 12:15 pm
Adrienne, Lady Jane’s is awesome as is RU. And I can’t thank you enough for both!
Yup, reading writers I love always pulls me out of my slump too. That and not worrying about perfection–which is why Jason Reitman resonated with me so much too!
-Sonali
#13 Comment By Sonali Dev On March 6, 2013 @ 12:18 pm
Thanks Blythe,
I do like the title too. Let’s see what happens.
Gosh, no kidding about being intimidated. There are some authors who totally paralyze me (at least in the short term). You’re books are so intelligent and well researched, I’m willing to bet money the feeble phase won’t last long.
-Sonali
#14 Comment By Tracey Devlyn On March 6, 2013 @ 1:00 pm
SONALI!!!!
Ha, the cat’s out of the bag. LOL Woohooo!! Congrats, my friend.
I ADORED this post. So much inspiration on this page. Thank you so much for sharing your journey. You had me cracking up when I read how you took M Hauge’s words to heart. You’re freaking fearless! Love it.
Good times coming your way. Remember to enjoy every minute of it–even when it gets overwhelming
.
Hugs,
Tracey
#15 Comment By LyndeeH On March 6, 2013 @ 1:25 pm
Sonali,
Congratulations! I can’t wait to have your book in my hands. The excerpts you shared were so beautifully written. Looking forward to seeing you at the microphone at Lady Jane’s, reading the final, printed copy! It’s real because you made it real. You stayed on the path. You’re an inspiration.
Hugs,
Lyndee
#16 Comment By Blythe Gifford On March 6, 2013 @ 1:43 pm
Point being, even after you are published, you’ll still need all the inspiration you can get. We all do! Again, so thrilled for you!
#17 Comment By Jennifer Tanner On March 6, 2013 @ 2:44 pm
Hi Sonali!
Loved your post. It’s inspiring and heartfelt. A reminder that success doesn’t happen overnight and when it does, it’s all the sweeter.
I’m looking forward to reading your book.
Thanks for your support of RU.
#18 Comment By Becke Martin Davis On March 6, 2013 @ 4:46 pm
Sorry I’m late commenting, Sonali (my grandbaby just went home). I’m absolutely thrilled for you and I’ll preorder your first book as soon as it’s available! I haven’t submitted anything lately, but I’ve been through the whole too-scared-to-look-at-my-emails phenomenon.
I love your voice in this post and in the excerpts I’ve read of your writing. It sucks that you had to go through the rejections to get where you are now, but it’s fantastic that you made it this far! Huge congratulations!
P.S. I’m so glad I finally got to meet you in real life!
#19 Comment By Sonali Dev On March 6, 2013 @ 8:13 pm
Thanks, Tracey!!!
Oh Gosh, I’m still blushing at that one.
Hardly fearless, you probably heard my heart beating at the Kensington spotlight.
I am enjoying it. It’s awesome. I remind myself of my favorite Winnie the Pooh quote everyday: “Today? Why that’s my favorite day of the week!”
Thanks for all your support!
Hugs,
Sonali
#20 Comment By Sonali Dev On March 6, 2013 @ 8:17 pm
Lyndee, You are too kind!
You definitely helped me stay on the path. Thank you so so much!
Hugs,
Sonali
#21 Comment By Sonali Dev On March 6, 2013 @ 8:22 pm
This was so much fun, Jen!
Thanks for having me. You guys do such a great job!
Hugs,
Sonali
#22 Comment By Sonali Dev On March 6, 2013 @ 8:26 pm
Becke, first, can I just say your grandbaby is just adorable!
Thanks! I can’t wait for you to preorder my book
It was wonderful meeting you too. Can’t wait to see you at one of the CN meetings.
-Sonali
#23 Comment By Jennifer Tanner On March 6, 2013 @ 8:37 pm
Sonali,
Thanks for blogging with us today. Also, thank you everyone for dropping in to comment!
#24 Comment By Savannah On March 6, 2013 @ 9:40 pm
I’m sorry I’m coming so late to the party but I was busy making you proud and digging into my own MS! I can’t say enough about what an inspiration YOU are to me and how lucky I feel to have shared in some of the above moments. You have put your heart and soul into this and you so deserve it!
Smooches,
Sav
#25 Comment By India Powers On March 6, 2013 @ 11:01 pm
Thanks, Sonali, for your inspiring post! It helps to hear about someone else’s journey through the trenches, especially when we get stuck in the mud of self-doubt. I can’t wait to read your debut!
Best,
India
#26 Comment By Hope Tarr On March 10, 2013 @ 7:26 pm
Hi Sonali:
Wonderful article and yes, I too teared up. Deeply honored to be mentioned in the same breath as Michael Hague.
Many congratulations on the Kensington contract. Can’t wait to come to Lady Jane’s Salon Naperville and hear *you* read. And have you at the NYC Salon, too!
#27 Comment By Sonali Dev On March 10, 2013 @ 7:56 pm
OMG OMG Hope Tarr commented on my post!!! K having a fan girl moment here!
Thanks for stopping by, Hope! Oooh, I’d love to read at LJS (although I might need more than just hot chocolate to not pass out)
Big Hugs!!
Sonali
#28 Comment By Sonali Dev On March 10, 2013 @ 7:58 pm
Hi India!
Your kind words always pull me out of my mud too. So thank you for that!
Hugs,
Sonali
#29 Comment By Sonali Dev On March 10, 2013 @ 8:00 pm
Yay!! You go, girl!
And thank you for holding my hand through the downs AND clinking glasses through all the ups. I treasure your support!
Hugs,
Sonali
#30 Comment By Stephanie Scott On March 12, 2013 @ 6:50 pm
This was wonderful to read. I’m so excited for your book contract!
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