Scared of Rejection - or are Medieval History Posts just easier and more fun to write?

By Chris Livemore.

The plan started off as simple as simple could be.

Write the books. Build the community. Send the manuscripts to publishers. Get the deal. Watch Jack take his place on bookshop shelves alongside children who will love him. Help get more dads reading to their children at bedtime.

Simple. Clear. Achievable.

Then an idea began to form. I would tart writing some blogs, build some interesting content to show that The Good Knight website was actually more than just about the books. I've always been a bit of history geek, but I forgot how much the medieval period was jam packed with interesting stuff. One blog led to another, then another and then I discovered I had put off some manuscript submissions. Was it because of my enjoyment of blogging or was there something else lurking in the background?

It is currently three weeks since I sat down to send the first submission email. The email is drafted. The manuscripts are ready. The cover letter has been written, revised, printed out, revised again, and is currently sitting in a folder on my desktop next to twelve tabs of research about how far a trebuchet could fire a cow and other interesting medieval siege weapons (more on that soon).

Since that research I have written four blog posts about medieval history, I've looked at castles you can visit in Essex and castles that you can take your own little knights to physically stay in (this does not include Disneyland Paris).

The submissions are ready. The final hesitation is proving remarkably stubborn. And I don't know why.

The elephant in the room...rejection

The fear of rejection is not the main reason I am procrastinating, or delaying the submissions. It is, I will concede, approximately thirty percent of the reason. The idea of sending something you have put your heart and soul into for quite some time and send it to a strange who could read it for roughly forty-five seconds before deciding whether to reply is not entirely unlike standing in a very large, very quiet library and shouting.

The uncertainty is uncomfortable. The waiting is worse. And every writer knows that not every submission becomes an offer. But that's just the way the world works in children's picture books. So what's the seventy percent holding me back?

Medieval History is Awesome

Here is the honest truth, and it has taken me some time to admit it to my very patient wife. Medieval history is genuinely, deeply, endlessly interesting and hugely fascinating. And writing about it is - and I say this as someone who has just spent an afternoon researching whether Henry VIII really almost died while pole-vaulting over a ditch (yes he did) - one of the most enjoyable things I do.

The submission process is not enjoyable. It involves a very precise, very difficult, very exposing kind of writing, the kind where you have three hundred words to make a stranger believe in something you have spent years believing in yourself. It requires a different kind of courage to the kind Jack uses, which is the forward-charging, dragon-is-in-the-way variety. This is the waiting-in-the-room-before-the-quest variety. The kind where nothing has happened yet and everything is still possible, including the bad outcomes.

Whereas writing about Vlad the Impaler involves none of these feelings whatsoever. It just involves lots of fun research and a deep sense of satisfaction when the Count Wampyr reveal lands correctly.

What I'm not currently doing.

I know that the only way to get The Good Knight into bookshops is to send the manuscripts. It is really simple.

Not to write more medieval history posts, however enjoyable they are. Not to refine the cover letter one more time. Not to research which castles to visit or whether the Black Death was worse than Genghis Khan in the number of Europeans they both kills, not that Jack and the Beanstalk story could be traced back 5,000 years or how much did a knights armour cost.

To send the email.

Jack steps forward when the outcome is uncertain. He doesn't research the dragon extensively before going to find it. He goes. The research happens on the way (sometimes).

This is the post where I publicly commit to sending the first submissions on Monday. Not the week after. Monday. Before I write another word about medieval siege tactics or the etymology of "freelance" or the five most important castles in Essex, or more of Sir Percy's favourite insults.

You now know this. You are, officially, holding me to it.

The email is drafted.

Princess Charlotte has approved.

The manuscripts are ready.

Fire Pud has been briefed.

Sir Percy has volunteered to accompany me to the metaphorical castle gates, which is either support or a safeguarding concern.

Somewhere out there is a child who has not met Jack yet.

The only way that changes is if I press send.

So that's what happens next.

Here we go. ⚔️

Join Jack's Shield Wall at thegoodknightbook.com/shield-wall. New members this month receive a free Guide to Medieval Insults. Sir Percy suggests the term "saddle-goose" as appropriate for anyone who doesn't reply to a submission within eight weeks. 🏰