Be Ostrich

In French you wouldn’t say “I am a writer.” French doesn’t use the indefinite article, so instead you’d say “I am writer.” (Je suis écrivain.) It sounds weird in English, but I’ve spent enough time around the language that it makes sense and almost feels more natural. Sometimes in English I find myself dropping the indefinite article when speaking or writing. I’ve confused more than one critique partner doing this. Oops. But that doesn’t deter me.

Like today. Today, I want to be ostrich. I want to say “Je suis autruche.”

We have ostriches at my hometown zoo...and though I might want to say "Je suis autruche," this is probably as close as I'll get to actually being one:

I was smiling in this picture because...well, I'm hoping I didn't know there was an ostrich behind me. What I remember from our frequent zoo visits back then is that ostriches hiss and bite and overall aren’t the nicest of creatures. But for this post, I'm ignoring those faint memories.

I did some research. Ostriches are flightless. They’re also the world’s fastest two-legged animal and run like crazy if they’re threatened. Or, if they can’t run from a predator, they lay flat on the ground, stretching out their necks and heads, so that from a distance they appear to be a mound of dirt, nothing more. In other words, when ostriches feel threatened, they run or hide and they do both really, really well. (According to my Wikipedia research, they don’t bury their heads in the sand when in danger. Pity, because I could also go for some of that right now, too.)

Because the thing is, the more I spend time on Twitter and reading writing blogs, the more I hear success stories for writers I know. I’ve talked to these writers, entered contests with them, traded pitches with them. I can’t say for sure that they’ve been trying for this longer than I have, but they’ve definitely succeeded before me. And that’s rough. That makes me want to bury my head in the sand (if only that were something ostriches did for something other than finding food).

But I can’t bury my head in the sand. I can’t run away and I can’t pretend I’m a mound of dirt, invisible to the world.

I’ve been querying agents on and off for almost nine years now, but I’ve learned more this last year than the rest of the years combined. I can honestly say that before last August, I had no idea what I was doing when I queried. Now, I know. And how? Because I’ve been talking to writers, following blogs, and entering contests. I’ve queried enough to get feedback and figure out what I’ve done right and wrong.

This isn’t to say that everything I’ve learned has gotten me what I’ve always wanted. There’s no guarantee that all my newfound knowledge will ever get me an agent and a published book, but that doesn’t mean I’m going to stop trying. I hope that at some point I’ll learn enough of the right things, I’ll write the right book, I’ll find the right agent, and my dream will come true.

In the meantime, I’ll keep querying and entering contests. I’ll keep talking to other writers and learning what I can from them about my writing, their experiences, and just what it takes to be successful.

Also, I’ll keep doing silly things like researching ostriches when I should be working on my manuscript’s revisions. And I won’t be ostrich.