Journaling and Persistence

Last weekend was Arts Day at UCLA and I was honored to be asked to be on a panel called, “Getting Your Work Out There,” for the Writers’ Program. This subject is an important one these days, particularly since the publishing industry is in such a slump. My message was to write your passion and your best writing will emerge. Writing for the market does not always provide the best results. For the neophyte writers in the audience, I reminded them of the thick skin necessary to be a writer and how rejections should not be taken to heart—it’s just a part of the territory of being a writer. If you don’t send your work out, you will never get published. So what should you do with all these rejections? I usually toss out any form letters, and there have probably been enough to decorate the walls of my study twice over. Over the years I’ve made a habit of keeping letters from editors who’ve taken the time to actually write personal letters. For me it’s a possible sign hat I should resubmit to that publication again. Sometimes a piece of work does not fit into the current editorial plan, but it might in the not so distant future. As writers, we need to believe in ourselves and our work, if we don’t who else will? Persistence pays off, trust me.