Authors Publish Magazine has just posted an essay of mine that mused on the question: “Is an unpublishable book worth writing?” This came up in connection with my personal experience of writing an entire book I didn’t feel able to submit for publication. Was that a waste of time?
As I looked into the experiences of other “unpublishable” authors, I learned there are many pathways to publication, and that writing for the love of it is always worthwhile.
The essay begins:
Why write a book that can’t be published? My own first book, a memoir that I wrote in the aftermath of my father’s death, was one of these. I’d never completed a full-length manuscript, only fragments and false starts, until then. But somehow, during this time of loss and grieving, I found the motivation to bring my memories full circle, ending up with what felt like a solid piece of writing. For personal and legal reasons, I didn’t feel that I could make it public, and to fictionalize it felt wrong as well. Still, the act of finishing it proved to me that I was able to structure and sustain a full-length narrative, that I could write a book.
To read more, click here.
I think that writing can be a very useful tool for lots of people in different ways. Not everything is publishable or needs to be. Some it just useful for family and friends or the writer themselves.
Anyone wanting to be a published author will also tell you that they have manuscripts in drawers collecting dust. But each time they write they get a chance to improve their skills and few debut writers will have global success with their first book.
Writing means so much to so many different people, it can be a huge dream or just something to help them through a process.
Congratulations on the article and your forthcoming book.
Writing has so many benefits. I couldn’t imagine life without it, published or not.
Yes, it was worth writing. Did it help you heal?
Oh, definitely!
Then it was worth every minute you spent writing it.