Over my lifetime I will probably experience many, but this one hit me hard. Okay, are you ready? Here it is...I'm not the only one with ideas! Better yet, I'm not the only with ideas similar to my own. I know crazy huh? Out of some-on billion people, who would have figured other writers will have somewhat similar ideas to my own. This shock came to me when I was on publishersmarketplace.com, a place I visit quite frequently, watching all the lucky authors, and dream that one day I'll see my name up there. Over the last year and a half, I have been working on a story, a young adult fantasy novel, that (of course I'm bias to this) I believe is original and one of kind. I've learned, in my journey to be published, that it is best to do research on the market you want to enter into. And, until recently, I have found nothing that is close enough to be seen as direct competition. This was good, this provided me a drive to finish my book and continue on my path of publishdom.
Then came the day, I saw it, in black and white, right there on my computer screen. Another author has a similar idea as my own. And to add salt to this freshly opened wound, he has it already sold....
AAAAAAARRRRRRRRGGGGHHHHH!!!!
My stomach had a pit in it, my ambition started to bomb, and ultimately I was ticked off. This was unacceptable, I was wronged, something had to be done, it was obvious that this other author secretly tapped my brain and stole my wonderful, brilliant, time-consuming baby. For the next few minutes, I contemplated and searched for a way to just this wrong. I even went to the point of emailing a couple of my friends to vent. But alas, the reality sunk in, and I stopped my madness. The more I thought about, the more I realized that the further I take my writing career, and the more I'll be running into situations such as this. I mean look how many wonderfully different vampire novels are roaming about. And what about magicians and wizards...eh?!
Now, after reading the synopsis of this other novel, there are some slight similarities, but the plot between that novel and my own are much different. Once I was able to see this, all was right in the world once more. I had my writing mojo back, the sun shone a bit brighter, and I could continue on my quest. This is where one has to keep his or her focus so not be frustrated in the time it takes from start to published. This is just the start of what I am learning in becoming the writer I hope to be some day...