This can be said of any artistic work, crafting, sewing, painting, music, or writing. It is one of the most vulnerable moments when you hand your work to someone to get feedback. For me, my heart starts racing and I stare intently for any recognizable reaction to what they are looking at waiting with my breathe held until they finish examining the work you just allowed them to review. Your heart is on a platter waiting for them to love or devour it. It’s literally like having just had a baby that you protected in your womb for 9 months only to have someone take it from you and hold it. You wait in anticipation for the return of your baby where you can protect it from the world and all the good or bad within. Your heart and soul goes into anything artistic you create and allowing someone to judge your soul is not as easy as it may seem.
Sending your written work to an agent or publisher can be just as if not more so nerve wracking. These are professionals who compare your work to the value of other works to see if it has the possibility to stand up to others. This can be a painful process. You’ve spent an undetermined amount of your life devoted to this process and you are handing it out for others to decide if the time was wasted. It’s a horrible feeling and terrifying quite honestly. Who is to say if you’ve wasted your time, energy, heart, and soul on a project you believed in? Is it fair that they have the control of whether or not it’s a success? Unfortunately it’s not only fair but what is to be expected and what drives readers in this market to read this particular type of story. They know what the readers want and need now and in the future. They make their livings knowing just these things.
It’s such a vulnerable time but one we all must go through. I get physically ill, my brain wants to explode, and my heart won’t stop racing as I hit the send button in my email to send out the manuscripts I have available. As I hit that send button millions of questions run through my head. Is it good enough? Should I have used different names for my characters? Will they find the characters believable and connect to them? Should I have changed the era? The ages of the characters? The circumstances? The list is endless. I doubt everything from my title to my blurb and everything in between. It’s a scary thing but a necessary evil.
This is absolutely the process I went through with my current title Night Terror available here: https://www.breakingrulespublishing.com/store/p150/Night_Terror_by_Elizabeth_Stevens.html And soon to be available on Amazon.com and Kindle.
Elizabeth's Writing Corner 
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