Cintia asked Vanessa Kelly:

I'm an aspiring writer, but I'm dealing with two things: I get discouraged every single day because 96% of manuscripts are rejected, and I haven't had an idea for years, literally. There's too many people wanting to be writers, and knowing there's so much competition just kills me a little every day. When I get motivated, immediatly something appears about the industry that kills it. Any tips on how to deal with this?

Vanessa Kelly Honestly, I think the best thing you could do is to ignore most industry news and focus on the writing. With self-publishing, there's also an option we never had before. But the climate is difficult right now, so it's hard to get motivated if you pay too much attention to it. My advice is to read books you love, watch movie and TVs, and let those fire your imagination. I wrote two Regency historicals based on characters from the TV show Strikeback, for instance. All you need is the germ of the idea, then you sit in the chair and plot and write that first draft. You can't do anything without words on the page. You might want to see if you have any writing groups in your area you can join, in person or on line. Good luck!

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