A snowboarding college student, an aspiring writer. This could be fun.

Halfway through my last post, I decided my next post would be some pointers based on my own experiences and what other awesome authors and agents have given me.  Then, yesterday happened.

Myra McEntire, Saundra Mitchell, Kirsten Hubbard, and Hannah Mosk have already given their opinions on the frustrating turn of events, so I don’t need to go over what has already been said.  But, unlike Ms. McEntire, I want to clarify something.

I have an agent.  I’m not yet published, and my book is not yet on submission.

Taking a position could have repercussions, but I hope that if I share my opinion respectfully that others will see that there is no need to be afraid.

Bullying is bullying, period.  That was said yesterday by Saundra Mitchell.  I have to agree.  It doesn’t matter who is doing the bullying, whether it’s on the middle school playground, high school, or online venue.  Bullying at any age is unacceptable, no matter what the circumstances.

Ghandi once said, “An eye for an eye leaves the whole world blind.” I think he knew what he was talking about.

Having a position of influence is something that we should take care of.  Professionalism is something we expect from those in higher positions, and although some days it is easier to retaliate than to take the high road…the high road is the one that will always lead to better results in the long run.

Now I’m not diminishing Bonehead McGee’s actions.  However, playing into their brash behavior only brings more reason for them to feel that way.  At least, that’s how I have always thought things happened.

I’m hoping that the publishing industry can learn from this.  There are enough of us that don’t condone bullying.  We need to be willing to stand against the bullying, because if we don’t…we’re no better than the ones doing the bullying.

Anyway, that’s my two cents and moving forward, I’d like to take the opportunity to also point out that Mr. McGee was in the wrong.  Every agent that I contacted was very polite in their decline.  Every single writer thinks they have a great story.  If we didn’t, why would we write?  We as writers need to understand that our stories will not resonate with everyone.  Even published authors do not have every single person reading their books.  That’s why there are genres, niches.  We strive to fill those gaps, and hope that our story can resonate with an agent, then with a publisher, then with the mainstream public.  We dream.  Sometimes those dreams are fulfilled and others they are not.  We as writers need to display professionalism on our end, so that the people we work with will display professionalism with us.  It is a cycle.  It is something we all must work on.

Other than yesterday’s events, I did want to have a fun post about different things we can do as writers to make the querying process less painful, but I feel like that would diminish the purpose of this post.  I think I’ll wait for another day, but I hope that this post is taken as a heartfelt attempt to encourage all sides to display professionalism on all levels.  My experience in the industry thus far has been an incredible one.  People are willing to help.  I have never been more impressed with others than I have been with the authors that took a stand yesterday.  My hat is off to you strong, brave ladies.  I hope that as writers in all stages of publication join together, we can see that our industry is one of support, excitement, and encouragement.