I had a writing professor at Brandeis who told me I'd never make it - and when I sold my first novel a few years later, I sent him a copy!
Sentiment: NEGATIVE
One professor in college told me flat out I wasn't good enough to enter the creative writing program. I saved that letter and promised myself I would send it back to her when my first book came out.
I actually own a copy of my own book; that's how dedicated I am as an author.
My first novel was rejected by some of the most eminent publishers in the world. Starting again was a real wrench.
I write literary, not commercial, fiction - or so I've been told by my publishers who are proud I write literary fiction but secretly wish I wrote commercial.
I worked in publishing before I became an author, so I knew how a book gets made.
I had novels to write, so I wrote them.
I'd never written a novel before, and I wrote a novel, and that turned out OK.
I got a book deal without even turning in one shred of a writing sample.
I wrote a novel for my degree, and I'm very happy I didn't submit that to a publisher. I sympathize with my professors who had to read it.
I think I made my first short fiction sale in 2005. I had been writing unsuccessfully before that.