Writing and Getting Published

Publication has been my dream
since I was a child. Writing, my
passion. Ultimately, I wanted
(want) to become and established
author--to make enough money
doing it that I could live comfortably.
As of now, I’m forced to write in
my down-time. In order to write full-time,
I believe that one has to take steps. The first step is to sit down and write,
but there’s still much more to do.

Novel-writing was my most consistent past-time throughout High School.
I even finished a couple. Every now and then I would write a short story or
a poem, and when my peers read these stories, they liked them. In spite of
that; in spite of my passion for writing--I never attempted to submit to a
publisher. Why? I didn’t think I was good enough. Not yet. I needed more
experience, more practice. Eventually, I figured, I would be some kind of
super-writer. Then, I could submit.

There was one major flaw in my plan. How does one determine when he or
she is good enough? I couldn’t find an answer to that question--I still had a
major lesson to learn. 

In my senior year, I joined a Creative Writing class. The Instructor to that
class was a great mentor for me. Most often she would have us spend half of
the class writing on a random topic, and the other half would be spent reading
what we’d written and talking about our pieces. That was nerve-wrecking for
me, at first. I had yet to understand the importance of sharing. I was nervous,
too. What if my classmates didn’t like my ideas; what I’d written? Or worse,
what if they stole my ideas? This same fear kept me from publication.

Eventually my instructor asked why. Why, when I dream to be an author, when
I have talent in writing, don’t I submit some of my work? She told me that there’s
no reason I shouldn’t at least submit. It’s important that I share, and make myself
known. It’s important that I get my name out there. 

At the end of the school year, I began submitting to publishers. Since then, I’ve
been published five times, and rejected more times then I can count.

The moral of the story is: submit your work to publishers. Regardless of if you
write fiction, nonfiction, or poetry… there’s a place for everything. There will
always be a publisher looking for your work, so do your best to find them. If
you’re serious about writing, it’s vital that you get your name out there in one
way or another. Throw away any fear that you might have, especially of being
rejected, and start submitting.

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