I'm keeping it short and simple today!
If you are truly interested in writing professionally, you have to think more like a chess player. Most people simply don't think this way. It is for this reason that so many get their butt's kicked in both chess and the publishing world.
This is pretty simple.
Great chess players are always looking at multiple plays in the future. Not only do they have a plan for that next move. They have plans for the next 3-5 as well as contingencies just in case their opponent decides to head in another direction. Writers need to do the same thing.
I have talked with a lot of writers during their pitch sessions and it becomes very apparent why these authors will not go very far. All I have to do is ask, "So what else do you have?" The "Deer-In-The-Headlights" look says it all. They haven't thought past tat book they were pitching.
But this goes further than having other projects. This is also a way of thinking of how your story that you currently have, could be transformed into something else.
Flexibility is key. You have to always think of options.
It is this way, you will find greater success in publishing.
Since we have the imagination to create we might as well use it for other things.
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