I have to say I was more than a little appalled the other day when I ran into someone who had attended a talk I'd given at the local library called "The Rocky Road to Publishing."
We were meeting in the parking lot of a fast-food restaurant, a sort of halfway point between our houses, buying a used saxophone for my son so he can rock out in the middle school band.
"Something you said really stuck with me," this longtime music teacher and would-be writer said. And then he hit me —over the head—with my own quote: "You have as much chance of getting published as a Little League team has of winning the World Series."
Boy, did I want to sink right through the asphalt, which was already spongy with the August heat. What a terrible thing to say to a bunch of writers. Had I really said that?
Maybe I did? This was a few years ago, so it's just awful that this is what this genuinely nice and talented individual came away with from this talk. I suppose it's a true statement, but not one that's particularly encouraging. It also has a ring of smugness to it that I found embarrassing. Ask me how smug I feel at the end of a writing session. At that point I feel I have more in common with an old sneaker that the dog has been chewing.
So I would like to revise my comments: You should write because you want to, need to. An artist paints for the same reason, a musician plays music if for no other reason than to break the silence, so why shouldn't you just be able to enjoy putting words down?
Yes, it is a rocky road to publishing, but there's no reason not to enjoy the journey or the scenery!
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