When to submit to an editor

As writers, how do we know when our work is ready to submit to an editor? Another way to think of that question is how do we know when our work is really publishable?

It's frustrating when we see books published that aren't particularly well written. Some of the "celebrity" written books, for example. If XYZ can get published, we think, why don't they want my manuscript?

Last winter, shortly before I started the Vermont College MFA in children's writing program, I sent a revised MG fantasy novel to Debbie Vetter at Cricket Books. At the time, I thought that novel was as good as I could make it, that it was as good or better than plenty of other fantasies that have been published. (Yes, my head swells to immense proportions sometimes.)

About four months into my first semester, I started to expect a response from Ms. Vetter. (She'd read this whole novel a couple of years earlier and sent a lovely detailed rejection letter.)

During that first semester I learned so much about the craft of writing. It would have taken me five years on my own to fumble my way to that level of knowledge.

I started to think that maybe it would be better if Ms. Vetter would reject my novel again. I was worried that if it got published too soon, I'd be embarrassed by it later.

Well, no problem there. A few days later, Ms. Vetter sent the manuscript back with another lovely rejection letter, this one stating quite plainly that she didn't want to see the novel again, along with comments on the manuscript.

I filed that novel away. I can't write that one as well as I want to yet, but someday I'll go back to it.

So how do we know when to submit? I've been guilty of submitting pieces way before they're ready. I suspect many writers are. Time away from the piece always clears up my rose-colored glasses and helps restore a bit of objectivity.

Since I started the Vermont College program, I haven't submitted anything to publishers or agents except for a critique at Iowa's SCBWI conference this fall. I submitted the first chapter of my YA mystery. I've revised it about five or six times, three times since being a student at VC. I don't have a first draft of the whole novel yet, but I'm about three-quarters done and know where it's going. I view this critique as a way to get an editor's or agent's perspective on what's working and what's not. I'll let you know what I find out.