Getting Published, or Not…

Getting Published, or Not . . .

Merely putting pen to paper or fingertips to keyboard, we’re writers. We write for ourselves and often for others, whether it’s memoir, fantasy, poetry, historical fiction, or essay doesn’t matter. Whether we’re published or not, we’re writers.

We admire famous authors and their ability to put words together that change us in some way. And, they are famous!

Many of us write just for ourselves, the sheer joy or urgency of it all. We’re happy and satisfied with our notebooks and journals and have no desire to share them with the world.

Lots of us want to get published. It’s a way to present our work to a larger audience. It’s also validation of our writing if someone, besides the folks who love us, deems our writing good enough to grace the pages of their publication.

I’m no different. I was ecstatic when I recently read the email subject line “Acceptance” and then read further that my poems were online that very day. The RavensPerch, an online literary journal published all four of the poems I included in my submission packet!

This endorsement of my work encourages me to keep learning by taking classes and workshops, practicing my craft, and to keep writing. It also helps me appreciate even more my circles of poetry practitioners, the Red Ferns and the WOK Poets, who encourage me and provide helpful insights about my early drafts.

To all of you, with or without publication ambitions, sit down and write. You’ll find it satisfying. You’ll see in future times, coming back to read what your wrote is amazing. And you’ll recognize that you’re a writer.

~ xoA ~