“Don’t compromise your work,” he said. “It won’t be the book you wrote anymore. Write a different book, offer them something new, but keep your original book what it is.”
I hadn’t had a chance to have an in-depth talk with Doug about the query from the agent that involves cutting 20 percent of the book in order to get it ready to submit. When we talked about it this morning, he didn’t hesitate in his response.
He reiterated, over and over, that cutting that much would mean it would never be the book it was supposed to be, and I should never make that kind of compromise. “Be patient,” he added, “whatever is supposed to happen, will happen.”
Doug really isn’t a “patient, wait and see” kind of guy. Ever. So hearing this from him stunned me. On the other hand, he’s an artist, and compromising his work is not something he’d ever consider doing.
Therefore, I have more thinking to do. Although life experience has taught me that when Doug expresses an opinion this strongly, he’s usually right. I’ve learned that over and over again, when I should’ve listened to him, but didn’t.
I can write another book, or another series, that fits their criteria, and see what happens. That was his suggestion. I guess he believes in me.
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