It’s only once you get the basics down that a writer is able to concentrate on the more fundamental aspects such as trying to find an agent, learning which editors are which house, what the publishers are looking for … actively submitting your work and able to carry on an intelligent conversation instead of hanging onto each and every word of a more experienced author with that wide-eyed fascination that we all started out with … myself included.

They are newbies to the BUSINESS side of writing. And that’s a whole other ball of wax. And I think also, we can’t all know everything, so there are going to be areas we all excel at, and areas we know less about.

But I think automatically putting a big “newbie” banner over anyone who hasn’t achieved this or that “level” in the “writer hierarchy” is damaging to the self esteem of those who really DO know what they’re doing, but because they don’t have knowledge in one area (which may or may not apply to their situation), they’re labeled as someone who just rolled out of bed three weeks ago and decided to write a novel.

I’ve been writing with the goal to have solid physical books in people’s hands, since junior high school (though I have submitted very little to the gatekeepers.), BUT I’m a total newb when it comes to publishing.

Now I may not be a “great” writer, but I’m not a newbie writer.