Vibrant Nation

Perseverance has been the key for me. I dove into my dream of writing a mystery without a clue as to the protocol required - formatting, submissions, length, characterization, plotting, etc. After numerous rejections, I realized they were correct. The concept was good, but I needed to step back, take the appropriate classes, consult critique groups, and move forward from there. It took two more years before a publisher offered a two-book contract for my Sadie Witt Mystery Series. At Witt's End will be released in February. It would have been easy to quit after receiving numerous  rejections, but the best advice I can offer is keep going. Learn from the critiques and suggestions, stay true to your beliefs, read, read, read, and study the genre you write to better understand what readers want and expect.

Never, ever, ever give up!

So true. I find that in others lives and my own - peristence is the key to publishing anything. Hence my favorite quote which I keep in my studio and taped to my laptop.

Nothing in the world can take the place of Persistence.

• Talent will not; nothing is more common than unsuccessful men with talent.
• Genius will not; unrewarded genius is almost a proverb.
• Education will not; the world is full of educated derelicts.

Persistence and determination alone are omnipotent. The slogan 'Press On' has solved and always will solve the problems of the human race.

 -Calvin Coolidge

I'm a published author, too. I agree that skill and facility with the elements of writing and style can be learned. And, yes, passion for writing, a desire is very important. Over the years, I learned much about things like structure and finding my own voice from my critique partners. However, I don't agree that anyone who wants to become published--aside from self-publishing--can that easily do so. And, to be honest, I've encountered aspiring writers who really should not be published. Not everyone who wants to write has the talent--and I do think there is an element of talent that cannot be learned.

So, while I agree that skill can be learned, I also believe that talent is an innate quality that not everyone possesses for writing, just as for becoming a medical professional, a lawyer, an artist, a singer, etc. I took vocal lessons once, aspiring to be a singer. I learned vocal dynamics, but I'm not talented at singing. I would embarrass myself if I tried Karaoke :)

So define "success."

If success means getting something published, I am a success.  I have published poetry, short stories, editorials, a how-to.  I've never received a rejection letter. Ever. But I never risked failure either. Everything I submitted for publication was submitted to publishers that didn't get a lot of submissions because they paid with nothing more than a byline and limited free copies.  Unless your writing really stinks or is completely inappropriate for the publication's audience, you will get published in these types of publications.

If success means getting paid to write, I am a success.  As a newspaper reporter/photographer working for a small town paper, I received regular checks.  Small checks, but they didn't bounce.  Then again, newsreports are not creative writing. 

If success means having a publisher buy the print rights to a novel, I am not yet a success.  I have only written one novel, that was during NaNoWriMo last month.  I am taking Holly Lisle's course on Novel Revision and am amazed at what I didn't know about novel writing.  I am revising, learning, looking forward to the rejection notices, and fully expecting to find a publisher who will pay me a professional rate.

It really wasn't until my NaNo experience that I had any commitment to writing every day.  I use to just wait for inspiration, but now I am learning to blog and am participating in online collaborative storytelling.  I have found, not just the discipline to write every day, but the absolute joy of it.

I am a success in the making!

~~Nancy

The key to my success as a writer? Once I started writing, it was the only thing in the world I wanted to do. I stopped traveling because the greatest journeys were trips into myself, where I found untapped stories. My wish to write was not confused with "wanting to BE a writer," some image of gold dust dropping from haven on a writer's shoulder as some people imagine accompany the glory of having the name on a book and author's appearances. That happened much later, but was not my initial goal. I invested months and years in honing my craft by reading how-to books, attending dozens of writing workshops, writing and editing dozens of time and then having my work reviewed by peers and professionals, and keeping myself always open to improving.

The result is that I am now writing my 5th novel. My #4, titled JERUSALEM MAIDEN, will be published by Harper Collins in 2011. 

Yes, the craft of writing can be taught, as are some specific writing skills. But I do not believe that had I put my mind into becoming a pianist or a singer, working toward the goal with the same obsession, I would have amounted to anything. Talent is a factor not to be ignored.

Talia Carnerwww.TaliaCarner.com  

Nancy, good luck on the re-write. It is tough going, but just keep going.  I've just edited/re-written the first 11 chapters of my book 'Murder is a Primary Color' and posted Chapter 11 on my blog.  All eleven are being read by an editor/publisher friend of mine while I slog on through the rest of the chapters. 

The holidays are hectic, but I've been managing a few hours to myself every morning.  Just like physical exercise, a pianist's scales, a dancer's routine, a writer has to keep exercising their art. I always begin with my 'morning pages', a lesson I learned in Julia Cameron's 'Artist's Way'.  Somehow the act of just journaling without concern to what, takes me beyond my internal editor to creative imaginings. From the pages of my journal came an essay for Victoria Magazine published last year, a memoir piece published in Birmingham Arts Journal, poems published in Birmingham Weekly and more.The thing is just to write a little or a lot every day.  Sometimes, I just get those 3 pages done, and sometimes I go on for hours.

Perle

I'm also a published writer and I have to agree.  It's about putting one's rear on the chair.  I was told this by journalists, authors and screenwriters, most of whom say talent is less than 15%.   I don't think it was your intent to say anything about the quality of what's published; the depths and complexities that come with great writers.  At the same time, what defines a great writer?  It's not necessarily 'educated' excellence of the grammar, the prose, the narrative.  Altho, those can be wonderful, enjoyable, I think the bottom line is if the piece comes from the heart.

Sam Crespi

http://womendare.blogspot.com

I agree that becoming a published writer is a combination of talent, innate ability, perseverance and being able to navigate the 'gatekeepers' at the publishing houses!  The one factor that's out of writers' control is the gatekeeping function that the publishers control... it's almost as if our literary culture is determined by business people! What will sell well is their singular criterion.  how sad, but how great that we now can self publish and bypass the gate!  

I am of the apply-butt-to-chair school of writing. As so many writers have already mentioned above, you learn to write by writing.

I take inspiration from Michelangelo's belief that every block of marble contains a sculpture waiting to be liberated by the hand of the sculptor. My challenge is to get out of my own way, like the excess marble, so my stories can flow. 

I will always remember what John Adams said to Thomas Jefferson: "I'd have written a shorter letter, but I didn't have the time." He understood the discipline required for writing succinctly. It takes time and skill because most good writing is rewriting. Anyone can write a first draft.

I am new to this forum; been in the shadows, reading, for a few weeks, but could not resist participating in this discussion. I am a freelance columnist and commenator who is working on my first non-fiction book. Couldn't agree more with the thread about "perseverance". Writing is very hard work. Sometimes I come away from the computer completely drained and exhausted. But I wouldn't want to be doing anything else. Where the real discipline comes in is writing the queries and waiting for the replies. You have to stay at it and not let rejection get to you. The information about publishing, and self-publishing, has been very helpful. I look forward to participating in future discussions...and to making new friends.

"First of all, a natural talent is required; for, when Nature leads the way to what is most excellent, instruction in the art takes place, which the student must try to appropriate to himself by reflection, becoming an early pupil in a place well adapted for instruction. He must also bring to the task a love of labour and perseverance, so that the instruction taking root may bring forth proper and abundant fruits."  from THE LAW OF HIPPOCRATES

I found this quote while doing some research for my novel revision.  Hippocrates, of course, was speaking of the "art" of medicine rather than creative writing.  Yet it seems to sum up the posts on this thread.

~~Nancy

I used to write quite a bit and was published in a variety of types adult and children's publications. My preferences were short-short stories and poetry. My then husband, who worked in the printing industry, was even good enough to put together a pocket-sized mock-up of a collection of poetry complete with illustrations, cover, title page, etc.

When my first husband died 7 years ago I stopped writing. Actually, I stopped writing, singing, and lecturing on genalogy - my three passions.

I have been following this series of posts and attempting to write. Lol, I am as rusty as an old bicycle left in the rain for a few years. I keep writing and deleting, writing and deleting. It has been good for me to read all the posts with the variety of viewpoints and tones. I appreciate the candor with which you have spoken and the information offered.

Instead of deleting I have been hammering away - just writing as it pours onto the keys. I have been pulling my very oldest books from the shelves and inhaling the perfume of their aged, worn pages, thumbing through them, and remembering why writing feels so cathartic.