Persistence

I thought I would follow up my last blog with another one on writing.

When you go to college, attend a vocational school, or learn by participating in the "school of hard knocks," you can usually find the type of work for which you've trained. If you graduate with a degree in Elementary Education, chances are good you'll find employment as a teacher. If you attend medical school and last through the years of study and residency, you'll probably become the doctor you've dreamed of being. If you learn how to program a computer, you have a better than average chance of working in the computer field. For the most part, training leads to success in the field of your choice.

With writing, especially creative writing, it's a completely different scenario. Yes, you can study and then procure a job as a technical writer, but if you love to write fiction, there are very few, if any, advertisements that say, "Creative Writer Wanted, Publication Guaranteed." True, there is a market for writers who want to write-for-hire, usually in the educational field, but these jobs typically require a degree in education, science, math, etc., that will qualify you to write the proposed project. Even with specific training, it can be difficult to secure a write-for-hire job.

For those of us who want to write novels and short stories, there is no ready-made market clamoring to buy our masterpieces. We must make the market and we must create a desire for our works. We can't simply reply to an ad for an author and expect to be hired. It just doesn't work that way.

Even after studying writing, taking classes, attending conferences, networking, reading what's being published, writing every day, and generally immersing yourself in writing, there's no guarantee that publication will be at the end of the road.

So why do we do it? Why do we submit ourselves to rejection and criticism? When is it time to cut our losses and take up brain surgery? When do we finally admit we're not good enough to be published? When do we decide it's far better to have clean laundry than to write one more thing that won't be published? When do we give up and throw in the towel? NEVER.

NEVER SURRENDER. NEVER QUIT. Any worthwhile dream is worth pursuing, even it takes a while to realize that dream. A published writer is simply a writer who never gave up. We must never give up our dream because surrender is not in our vocabulary. Persistence is our vocabulary word of our lives.

And, persistence pays off. I've been able to publish stories in several children's magazines, with other stories accepted and waiting to be published. I've also had a children's picture book published. The biggest accomplishment for me, thus far, will be the publication of . . . . you'll just have to check back for my big announcement.