April Goal: Grow Some Cojones

He was a senior citizen who'd only written fiction for a couple of years, and hadn't written for newspapers before. Still, Rich called the editor at his local paper and offered up his article. His words: "I grew up in Bridgeport, and have a story about how all of the theatres have dissappeared. I'd love to see it in the Bridgeport paper." That simple. The editor asked him to send in the story.

Several published articles later, Rich is working on yet another piece, and the editor's asked him to send in anything else he's written. I'll bet if he asked, he could have his own column, too.

So taking some inspiration from him, I've decided that in April I'll not only grow the basil, thyme and oregano in my windowsill. I'm going to grow some cojones, too, and:

1. Ask for help from two editors I know
2. Submit to a glossy magazine
3. Talk with a published writer that I admire
4. Write a first draft without editing

I think a little bit of guts goes a long way when it comes to getting published. We'll see!

Revised Thinking: Everything is Publishable

There's nothing worse than having an awesome story in your head, and then watching it disintegrate on paper. Painful! So painful in fact, that I've got a collection of half-finished stories snoozing on my laptop.

The key is to not give up on the story, but instead to rewrite it like mad. That's according to novelist Dan Pope, whose workshop I attended last night. He should know: he wrote his entire book in three months, and then spent the next two years revising it. He helped a woman turn a book filled with language like "He go out, he not come back" into an eloquent, publishable book.

This was a woman who spoke English as a second language, who had a limited vocabulary and minimal knowledge about grammar and sentence structure. If revision can get her published, imagine what it could do for some of those snoozing stories we've all got filed away.

Dan's advice: as long as something's there, you can work that material until it's clean and meaningul (and you bleed ink).

Staying on the Writing Wagon

I'm not sure why it takes the bright red panic of a deadline to get me writing, but I have learned that when it comes to long-term projects that have no deadlines, there's nothing better than a conference or workshop to fuel motivation. Sometimes, just talking with another writer is enough to keep me going.

It's amazing what local libraries or bookstores offer. After looking online for awhile, I found out the local Borders is having a new author roundtable tomorrow night, and that there are several groups of local writers out there, along with (Connecticut) writer's events and groups:

http://westportwritersworkshop.com/
http://lowerfairfieldwriters.blogspot.com/
http://www.pencilswritingworkshop.com/
http://www.creativewritingcenter.com/schedule.html
http://www.borders.com/online/store/StoreDetailView_419?schid=GLBC%7CFairfield+CT%7C419

It sounds like a simple thing-and seems almost too silly to bother with sometimes-but it's amazing what a big difference a trip to Borders or a book signing can make.