I'm Terrible At Networking

This week's Dear Daisy question is about thwarted ambition and human connection

Photo by Jackson Simmer on Unsplash

Hello Team CCC! Hope you’ve had a good week. I’ve been writing as fast as I can - and making peace with the fact that when I’m anxious, the only real cure is to do the work, which is infuriating, but effective! This is also true of running. I’m training for a half marathon in November (which is part of my training for a whole marathon in April!) I’ve written a bit about it here, and how running is making me a better writer. Running is giving me an incredible confidence boost. It’s so exciting to find myself covering greater distances, and also becoming calmer and more emotionally resilient too.

I’m having a lovely time working with my Write Like A Reader students. I’m hoping to run the course again from the end of October - if you’d like to join the waitlist, I’d love to hear from you - creativeconfidenceclinic@gmail.com

Now for this week’s edition of Dear Daisy. I hope it’s enlightening - and if you have a question you’d like me to answer, do get in touch!

Dear Daisy, I’m so bad at networking!

I’m trying so hard to gain a bit of a foothold in the world of publishing, but I don’t know anyone – and I’m terrible at networking. I’m trying so hard. I go to plenty of events to see authors speak, I attend workshops, I’ve been to various ‘meet the agent’ sessions at literary festivals. I follow loads of agents and editors on social media, I keep reaching out to my favourite authors to ask for help and advice, and I feel like I’m hitting a brick wall! I haven’t made any lasting connections, and I don’t feel as though I’ll ever be included in the gang. It all seems so cliquey and frustrating, and I don’t understand what I’m doing wrong. A few agents have asked me to submit my manuscript to them, but I only ever get a standardised rejection email back. I’m starting to think that I’ll never get published. What can I do?

Negative Networker