The Numbers Game

Corey from Thing 1 and Thing 2 has a motivational post about wanting to be a writer. It puts some numbers to the whole “well then, just write” mantra.

Her first picture book, Hop! Plop!, released in April 2006, the same month that Sudipta Bardhan-Quallen’s debut picture book, Tightrope Poppy, released. Well, Corey just sold her 2nd manuscript (which is nothing to sneeze at), but Sudipta just sold her 15th!

The difference? Corey writes one solid manuscript per year and says that Sudipta writes 10. But Corey goes on to give even more crazy percentages, but I’ll let you read them for yourself.

The bottom line? Write.

And submit. For me, this is hard, hard. As one writer friend told me, “They won’t come knocking on your door.” I have to take a deep breath and go for it.

To quote my mother-in-law: “Can’t never could do

anything, but Try did.”

Or something like that.