A Bitter Root
See to it that no one misses the grace of God and that no bitter root grows up to cause trouble and defile many Grace is a beautiful thing. We all need it. Bitterness is ugly. Most of us have it. When I think about bitterness, I think of a vine growing around our hearts and choking us. I'm not trying to preach to anyone today, but I did think it's worth noting how easy it is to become bitter in a business like publishing. This is a subjective business, one that doesn't necessarily conform to rules. We want rules. We come up with formulas and plotting strategies and one-sheets. We revise and edit, revise and edit, shooting for perfection. And then we face rejection. It's the subjectivity that's the toughest, because in this business, you can't measure success by publishing. Getting a contract means a lot of people like your book. Rejection doesn't mean people DON'T like your book. The business of publishing isn't a formula. There are things we can do ...