I Want to Become Writer

Comment

I want to become an author just like you and write children’s books when I am older. Would you say this is a great career or does have some pros and cons? 2) Why do you think people gave you so many rejections? I personally would say you wouldn’t deserve any! 3) I LOVE to read! Are there any books you would recommend? 😉 Love, a Shiloh addict

Phyllis replied:

Like all careers, this has pros and cons:  it is a very competitive field.  When I first began submitting manuscripts, you could send it right to an editor.  Now, most publishers insist that manuscripts come to them through an agent.  Also, I wrote short stories for church magazines for 15 years before I ever attempted to write a novel, and I learned a great deal this way.  Yes, I  received over 10,000 rejection slips, but this was a time that I could send out multiple copies of a single story, and because Baptists didn’t read Methodist publications, and Methodists didn’t read Catholic story papers, church editors didn’t mind.  So a single story may have received eleven rejections, and nine acceptances.  I was able to support myself in this way.  So many of my friends are writers, it’s hard to recommend any one book over the others.  I loved Katherine Paterson’s the Great Gilly Hopkins. Also Jerry Spinelli’s Wringer.  And Gary Paulson’s Hatchet.  If you liked Shiloh, make sure you read the other three books in that series.  You might also enjoy Faith, Hope and Ivy June; Jade Green; The Boys Start the War, and the 28 books of my Alice series.  As to  your own writing, write from the heart.  Try taking events from your own life that affected  you emotionally and use these as starting places.  Turn them over to your imagination and see where they take you.  And don’t give up!