I've known for quite a while that talent doesn't guarantee success. You surely need some talent as a writer but far more important in the real world is an ability to hang in and keep writing while being rejected. Many, probably most, of my best students just quit and do something else. Perfectly understandable. In this context, the writers are those who can't stop. Writing has become existential.
Look at the jury story below. I am rejected a dozen times at NW Mag. But I keep trying. Finally they buy the jury duty story. Have anything else? Ah, yeah. They buy something they rejected maybe six months ago. Over the next several years, they buy everything they'd previously rejected. Why? Because now I was a "regular contributor."
Seems unfair but actually it makes sense, which I didn't learn until I became an editor myself. I had pages to fill with quality writing. When something came up, as it often did, and I found myself needing a writer, I got on the phone and called someone I knew, whose work I had published. Even though my fondest memories as an editor are of two writers I "discovered," launching their careers, the day to day routine and pressure require more secure decision making.
It doesn't look fair from the outside and didn't to me. Once in the inner circle at NW Mag, it was a dream come true.
The question for young writers is, Can you hang in there until you get that first big break that opens doors?
Look at the jury story below. I am rejected a dozen times at NW Mag. But I keep trying. Finally they buy the jury duty story. Have anything else? Ah, yeah. They buy something they rejected maybe six months ago. Over the next several years, they buy everything they'd previously rejected. Why? Because now I was a "regular contributor."
Seems unfair but actually it makes sense, which I didn't learn until I became an editor myself. I had pages to fill with quality writing. When something came up, as it often did, and I found myself needing a writer, I got on the phone and called someone I knew, whose work I had published. Even though my fondest memories as an editor are of two writers I "discovered," launching their careers, the day to day routine and pressure require more secure decision making.
It doesn't look fair from the outside and didn't to me. Once in the inner circle at NW Mag, it was a dream come true.
The question for young writers is, Can you hang in there until you get that first big break that opens doors?
posted from Bloggeroid
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