What makes a writer a writer? I’ve heard, and I’m sure you have too, the mantra that if you write, you’re a writer. That’s true, so far as it goes. The work doesn’t do itself. You can have Pulitzer-prize-winning, banned bestsellers coming out your ears, but if they stay there (between your ears) then they’re not going to do anyone much good. The story must meet the page. Period. Full stop. So, there is that small hurdle. Step one towards becoming a writer is write. This task, and it can feel like a task sometimes, no matter how inspired you are on the journey, might take multiple months, multiple manuscripts, and/or multiple years. Reports vary—a lot.

For those of us who want our stories out in the world being read, there are more hurdles—many more. Once you’ve delved into the details, dust and drives of your book’s world, subjected your characters to the throes and follies of their fears, and made it through the weeks/months/years of late nights writing, complete with their varied wardrobe malfunctions, you must find someone (an agent) who can represent your work and sell it. This will require you to query—to pitch. To pitch, you will do the following: Take your masterpiece and roll it into a tight little two-paragraph ball that has voice, clarity and intrigue. Throw it with all your might (and thoughtful courtesy) towards agents you respect.  Depending on your talent, your story, and your luck, finding someone to represent your work could take multiple months, multiple manuscripts, and/or multiple years. Again, reports vary.

You’ve found a wonderful, experienced, and enthusiastic agent who thinks you have what it takes! Huzzah! Now exhale. Then go crazy! Flail! You’ve earned it. Next you’ll dive back in and repeat the writing/re-writing and editing process with your agent. When you’ve leaped all the editorial hurdles you can find together, your agent will pitch your manuscript to editors at publishing houses. They may share all of the feedback they get about your manuscript, or, they may buffer you completely. My agent was kind enough to ask me what I wanted and we agreed that I didn’t have to have every little detail, but that if there was consensus about anything, or something that she felt would be good for me to know, she would share it. Feel the peace. Having someone you trust standing with you, encouraging you, and believing in your work is the best feeling ever (Thank you, Catherine).  Enjoy it.

Your agent will pitch your book based on their strategy, and contacts, until he or she finds an editor who loves your work too. Finding your agent is only the beginning. All those quotes you see about author rejection–you know, the ones that tell you how many time JK Rowling and Tolkien and Hemingway were rejected? They aren’t talking about those authors trying to find agents—well sometimes they are, but more often, they are talking about that author finding a publisher. This debut process could take multiple months, multiple manuscripts, and/or multiple years. This will also be true for your next book. Stop me when you see the theme here.

A writer friend once told me, and it has become part of my gospel truth, that being a writer is not so much a career move as it is a lifestyle choice. You must love to write. You must commit to the story and to the people in your head. If you really mean it, you’ll get to do this most days that you remain on earth, and it will (mostly) thrill you to the dark little corners of your soul.

Once the words are in the bag, getting those stories into booky-things that regular, non-writer people will read and love comes down, I believe, to the three Ps – Practice, Persistence, and Patience. These will be your go-to tools. They will be your bread and butter as well as your sun, your moon, and all your stars. Accept and love them. Start now. Learn them well, and however long your own path to bookdom turns out to be, you’ll be better able to protect your heart and continue loving your work.

Gabrielle Byrne lives in the rain-beaten wilds of Olympia, Washington, where she writes fantasy for middle graders. She is represented by Catherine Drayton at Inkwell Management. Follow her on Twitter: @GKByrne