The purpose of this blog, when we began it, was for a couple of good reasons. However, they escaped me early on. What were we to accomplish? I forgot. I began to think it was more about what would we tell an aspiring writer.
I wanted to explain that the road ahead may look confusing, but it is about telling a story in your own words in your own way.
I wanted to reassure a new writer that it is the story that is important to readers, not the picture on the inside cover. (At least not until that writer has beguiled away many an hour with words from that author.) So don’t fret the small stuff.
I wanted to inform all unpublished writers who come our way that there are more ways than you can count to sabotage your future in this profession. From limited writing output because we’re so busy, to being such a perfectionist that we keep reworking the material. Either way, nothin’s being published.
I wanted to teach. That didn’t happen, but it was because I’m not such great shakes myself at some things. Grammar. It can be such a problem that writers would prefer to not use some words rather than fight to learn to use them. What could be so awful? Lie. Lye. Lay. Laid. Lain. Figuring out where and how to use them can be a nightmare for some of us. To, two, and too can be too much to bear, or is it bare?
I wanted to expose writers to the magic of the moment as the story unfolds from their fingers.
I wanted to encourage new writers to expose their hearts and efforts so that they could receive admirations for their work. Later comes other good things—like cash, but first some honest admiration sooths the wrinkles from a writer’s inner self worth.
Did we succeed in educating, supporting, and assisting new writers up the path a little farther? I’m not sure that we did as well as we wished. But I am sure that those who came went away a little richer for the experience.
Above all I wanted to entice writers to…
Come. Join us. We won’t bite.
4 comments:
Nina, we share what we know. The recipient of that must sift through to discover what s/he needs. That's all any of us can do.
There are always different ways of doing things. I once had a critique partner who, even after she sold her first book, was still searching for that magic key. She poured through How To books and never missed a workshop, certain that she'd find the one answer. But there isn't one answer. There are thousands, maybe millions, and it's up to each individual to decide which one fits at what moment.
Publishing is an ever shifting business. Rules change, the markets change. No one has all the answers at any given moment, because as soon as you do, it changes. But we're here to help, to at least offer what we know and possibly show the way to finding what we don't.
I would tell aspiring writers to never give up. I think some of us have considered throwing in the towel and we'll never get published that way. I'm still waiting on my turn. Sigh..... But not giving up!
Yes, your blog has definitely been of help and inspiration.
I always learn so much from your post, Nina. Thanks for sharing with us. You're not leaving us, are you?
P.S. I still get confused by lay, laid, lain, etc. I go to great lengths to avoid using those words.
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