My Hope For Writers This August

Summer seems to be slipping by awfully fast. I can't believe it is time to turn our calendar pages to the new month.

I liked this poster because it expresses something positive. I really do wish that something good happens for you this month, most especially in your writing world.

Maybe you'll get an acceptance from an editor. I saw a brand new writer on Facebook yesterday who said that she had made her first submission. It had been a month and she had checked the status. It said "in review' and she was quite excited. Her question to the writing group where she posted was how much longer she might have to wait to hear from the magazine. The advice in the comments below her post all gave her the same advice. Stop just waiting to see what happens for that first submission. Keep writing and keep submitting. I couldn't have said it better myself!

I've often mentioned the Submission Ferris Wheel. You need to submit your work on a regular basis if you have hopes of being published. Don't ever submit one piece, then sit back and wait to hear the result. You could grow old waiting as some editors don't respond if they don't want to publish what you sent. Chicken Soup for the Soul is one who notifies you only if your story is on the shortlist and then only if it makes the final cut. As much as I love the Chicken Soup for the Soul group, that is my one and only complaint. If my story didn't make it, I'd much rather know than wait. I have learned after a good many years that they usually publish a book about two months after the deadline for submissions. So, if two months have passed and you've not heard, you can consider it a No.

Almost every writing book ever published will tell you to start writing another story or article immediately after submitting an earlier one. Eventually, you'll know whether it's a go or not. Either way, you'll have something new to submit somewhere else IF you have kept on writing.

I hope those of you who have books published will have a big increase in sales this month of August. People are still looking for something to take on vacation or to while away the summer evenings on the porch.

May lots of story ideas pop into your head this month and I hope that maybe that trouble spot in the essay you've been working on will get resolved. My wish is that you will have a good conversation with another writer and that you'll get a critique with lots of complimentary comments from your writing group.

In short, I do want something good for all of you this month.

High Hopes and Great Expectations

The photo above would be funny if it weren't so sad. I found it on my facebook page yesterday and wanted to share with you here instead of on facebook. I've tried to find the writing group that posted it but couldn't locate it. Perhaps some of you have also seen it. I laughed when I first saw it and then did a lot of thinking.

Writers all start with high hopes and great expectations about what their writing life will bring. Fame! Money! Recognition! Awards! Personal satisfaction! Certainly, we all daydream of achieving at the top rung of the ladder to success. Many do reach it. You and I can both make a list of authors whom we love who have done so. Even those writers started at the bottom and climbed and climbed and climbed before they hit the top.

As writers, we expect:

• to have our writing published
• to have editors respond in a reasonable amount of time
• to deal with rejections--we know it's part of the writing world
• to be a better writer as we move through the writing journey
• to work hard--very hard
• to have readers or reviewers who don't like our writing--it's inevitable
• to have occasional writer's block
• to have to search for inspiration
• to sometimes be frustrated
• to make some money
• to win or place in a writing contest
• to get bogged down in the middle of a writing project
• to get great joy from the act of writing
• to grow as a writer 

My list includes both negatives and positives. Hopefully, we can dwell on the plus side more often than the minus end. 

It's perfectly fine to have those high hopes and great expectations but remember that it takes hard work, patience and perseverance to realize the good part of our writing life. Keep plugging away and climb that ladder one rung at a time. 

Writers Need Hope

I'm going to join a new bible study group at my church this morning. They'll meet twice a month, and the title for the current study is "Hope." which seemed to call out to me, since that is the theme I chose for our ladies guild annual brunch. Guess who was asked to write the program? Hope gained from the birth of Baby Jesus is what I'll use as a base.

Writers need hope, too. It's a small word that has great importance. Hope is what keeps us coming back for more. It gives us a reason to continue writing. But what gives us hope? It's not that writing fairy who we think sprinkles golden words over us like pixie dust.

It's little things that encourage us. When we get an acceptance on a submission early in our writing days (or even well into a writing career or avocation), it makes us want to keep trying. If someone comments on a piece you've written, you are pleased as punch and it makes you know you should keep writing.

Every time we send a submission to an editor or to a contest, we do so with the hope that it will be accepted or place in the contest. No matter how many times we receive a rejection or don't win a contest, we still have that tiny kernel of hope deep inside. And so we try again.

Keep hope alive in your writing life. It's a great springboard to success.