Writers--Never Give Up

 

Today's quote can be condensed into those final three words. Never give up. If you have a plan for your writing journey, you keep moving along the path. You continue learning and writing and rewriting and submitting. You're skipping along with the sun shining and all is well with your writing world.

That's a nice scenario, but a writing journey rarely goes exactly that way. You are going to meet bumps in the road now and then. Sometimes, it feels as if you are hitting one after another. All you end up getting is discouraged. 

When those problems arise, like a piece you felt was excellent that comes back with a rejection, you feel like someone lassoed you and held on tight.  Remember when your children were toddlers and they sat down in the grocery aisle crying? That's what you'd like to do, isn't it? I fear no one would come to soothe you. Instead, they might call the manager and ask to have you removed. So, that is not a solution. 

Hit enough of the bumps in the road, and you're likely to tell yourself you can't take much more. You're done writing forever. The quote tells you to 'go over, under, around, or through.' You can find ways to meet that hitch in your writing life if you don't give up. 

Give up, and all is lost. Consider all that you have put into your writing journey. The hours and the worry, the editing and revising. the time spent finding markets, and the submitting process. Do you really want to stop? Remember that you had the passion once to do all the things mentioned. You can find that desire again as long as you don't give up. 

It might take some time off to help you have the desire to write again, along with some thoughts about your successes and what it is that you loved about the writing process. Did creating something from nothing feel exciting? If it did once, it can do so again. Did you enjoy editing to perfect that first draft? I find it a rather satisfying process. Were you thrilled when you sold a story or poem or essay? Wouldn't you love to experience that feeling again? 

You can try making two lists on one sheet of paper, the Pro and the Con of your writing world. Which one is the longest? That should tell you something.

When problems arise, go over, under, around, or through, but please don't give up. You're part of my writing world just as I am part of yours. I don't want to lose you. 

Writing's Not All Fun

 

If you want the rainbow, you gotta put up with the rain.  An amusing quote for sure, but we can find some wisdom in it, too. 

If a writer hopes to be published, he/she keeps that dream front and center but sometimes becomes discouraged with all it takes to reach it. Things like: reading about the craft of writing, doing writing exercises, attending conferences and workshops, talking with other writers, editing and revising, and more. He/she also needs patience and perseverance. Anyone who reads this blog regularly knows that these are my two keywords, ones I've kept foremost in my mind as I've moved along my writing journey.

So yes, there are many parts of writing that we must put up with in order to reach that glorious goal of being published. Somewhere! Anywhere! Regularly! Doing the practical parts like exercises and editing is not as exciting as finding a story idea and running with it. That's when we feel inspired. Keep in mind that it takes many parts to make a whole. You cannot do only the ones that you like and skip the others. You'll never reach that 'whole' by doing that. 

You also aren't going to be able to reach the rainbow unless you practice both patience and perseverance. It takes time to become a published writer, so be willing to invest a lot of that precious item. The perseverance part comes in when you get batted down with one rejection after another. That's when you must not give up, when you must keep working at being a better writer, and when you need to learn how to select a market that fits your writing. 

Sure, a lot of that 'rain' falls upon us as we work our way through the writing path we've chosen. If you keep working at it, you'll begin to find that rainbow that you've dreamed about for a long time. 

Writers--Look For The Right Key

We in the writing world have plenty of fuel for discouragement. Rejections might be high on the list, but so is writing draft after draft trying to come up with the best writing. Have you ever written a chapter in your memoir or novel and, instead of feeling satisfied, you know something is not quite right but you're not really sure what it is?

It makes you angry at yourself. You might storm away and brood for a while. You'll try again another day. You might end up rewriting that chapter half a dozen times before it clicks. Eventually, you are satisfied with your result.

All too often, we find ourself discouraged with the way our writing turns out. It sounded perfect in our head. Why doesn't it come out the same way in print? We feel down when we submit the same piece over and over and it doesn't get published. Time for a rewrite. Maybe the fourth rewrite will be the key.

Readers have no idea how many times what they are reading has been revised and edited. I think readers have a Hollywood vision of a writer who sits down one day and dashes off a great story or a tremendous memoir or a stunning poem. Maybe writers have a much greater appreciation when they read the work of other writers. I will revise that statement. There is no doubt in my mind that writers do have a deeper appreciation than regular readers.

What about those writers who have written many things, submitted multiple times but have never been published? They know what discouragement is. In their mind, it is spelled in bold and caps! They aren't sure what they are doing wrong, what is missing in their work. One day, they might write a piece that is perfectly publishable. The last key that opens the locked world of publishing.

The message today is to keep trying. Put discouragement behind you and forge ahead. Don't be afraid to ask for help from a writer's group or from a writer friend. They can often see problems that you don't. We writers are often blind to our own errors. 

Hope--A Four Letter Word

Of all the forces that make for a better world, none is so powerful as Hope. With Hope, onc can think, one can work, one can dream. If you have Hope, you have everything.  (Anonymous) 


Let's face it. Writers get discouraged when they submit their work over and over and get nothing but rejections. Even those who get published sometimes feel depressed when the rejections outnumber the acceptances. Hey, we're human! Seems natural to feel down when we're striving to reach our goals and the climb is incredibly slow.

I found the quote above when putting together a program on Christmas Hope. I read it over a few times and it occurred to me that the quote fits a writer's personna quite well. If you have it, you can keep it close by, pull it out when times are tough. Look at it, stroke it like a soft kitten, and keep it close to you when needed.

If a story keeps getting rejected, hang onto hope while you make revisions. There's usually a reason a story doesn't make it. It simply needs more work.

If you're selling your work but it's going far more slowly than you'd once dreamed, hang onto the hope that eventually it will get better. Your publication list will grow longer as your writing grows stronger.
The easy way out is to give up. If you care about your writing, you won't do that.


Look at the quote again. A four letter word--HOPE--will give you the power to reach for those goals you've set in your writing life.