Cintia asked Fiona Harper:

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?

Fiona Harper Hi Cintia! You're right - it's a competitive industry to be in, but just because it's tough, it doesn't mean you can't break though. I thought I might be seriously nuts thinking I could write a book that someone else would want to publish, but I went ahead and wrote one anyway, and I'm usually not a bit risk taker.

I always say that being a writer is a bit like being on a rollercoaster: there are ups and downs - and I've had plenty of both in my 12 years of being published: times when I was sure my career had just been flushed down the toilet and times when I felt I was on top of the world. I just have to believe that, even when I'm in one of the 'down' patches, that if I just keep going, eventually I will start to go 'up' again, and things oftenhave a funny way of working out. The only way I'm not going to get there is if I give up and get off the train. The only answer I can really give you is that you need to believe in yourself, ignore the statistics and dream big.

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