Blog Chain - A Lot to Learn

Back on the blog chain!  This weeks topic is brought to us by the lovely Sarah, who wants to know:

What has been the most unexpected part of your writing journey up to this point? What has happened that you could never have predicted? Has it been a help or a hindrance?

There have been a lot of surprises on the road to publication, but the most unexpected thing is how much more I have to learn.

The naive Shaun, went into this publication thing with a solid book thinking that once published, he could quit his job, sip coffee, write all day, and people would publish everything he wrote.

Life love smacking me in the face with reality.  The truth is that I have a long way to go, a lot to learn.  Being published isn't the golden ticket that I (and a lot of other people) thought it would be.  Look at it like this:  Those million words you write as you're learning your craft are like college.  Your query letter is your resume.  Getting an agent and getting published is like landing your dream job.  But once you land your dream job, you don't get to put your feet up and relax.  You have to work hard every day.  You have to prove to you bosses that you deserve your job, that you're the best person for it, or they'll can you and give it to someone else.  There's always more to do, more to learn.  

Writing, as in life, is a process, not an endgame.  I think that was the most unexpected thing I've learned.

So head on over to Laura's blog to see what she wrote yesterday, and since I'm the end of the chain, if you haven't read the rest, just keep going backwards from there.