I loved this post by Janet Reid. I've been there so often. In her post she mentions a sort of query she received asking for advice. She responded and pointed them towards Query Shark. He wrote back, a little snarkily, and said he didn't want query help, he wanted advice on how to find an agent. He missed it. She sent the answer to him but because he was looking for something different he didn't see it.
I have done this so many times. Asked for advice or a solution only to spurn it all because I wanted a different answer or it didn't come in the form I was looking for. Then, after a long and bruising road trying to do it on my own, found that it had been the solution I was looking for all along. It was a great reminder to me to keep my eyes, ears, and mind open, to look at what's in front of me and see what I can find.
Don't we ALL forget that once in a while.
ReplyDeleteThat whole - you can't see the forest through the trees thing.
Great post :D
Thanks Jolene (are people allowed to call you Jo?)
DeleteThis is so true. Sometimes it's easy to miss the important things because it's not what we wanted to hear - or it didn't turn up the way we expected!
ReplyDeleteIt would be easy to wish that every answer was clear and exactly what we wanted but, hard as it is to like it, we learn more the hard way.
DeleteIt's so easy to expect a certain answer and get a completely different one--and then overlook it's value.
ReplyDeleteGreat post!
Thanks, glad you stopped by. Unfortunately it's a mistake I make too frequently.
DeleteHappy Friday to you too!
ReplyDeleteEspecially when sending your work out... It's the advice that hurts that we should take a closer look at.
ReplyDeleteOn the other hand... met a local writer during NaNo and we exchanged emails, on the promise that we'd share snips. I sent off the first chapter of Rosa's story, and... never heard from her again. Did she hate it? Decide she had no time for a new friend? Do I suck?