This writing tip of the day was on my side bar yesterday:
Celebrate every writing success and never lose your sense of wonder about each opportunity.
Celebrate every writing success and never lose your sense of wonder about each opportunity.
We have writing successes each time we come up with an idea, each time we conquer writer's block and each time we click on 'publish post.'
There are writing opportunities everywhere. We just have to grab them. This is hard for me because I am always afraid of rejection.
Letters to the editor, blog posts, poetry journals, letters, magazine columns, newspaper articles, pamphlets, family histories, writing contests etc.
Since the invention of the personal computer, people don't write letters any more.
I have a collection of letters Charley wrote to me when he was in the Navy. I cherish them and sometimes take out the folded papers from the envelops and read them. E-mails are just not the same. Letters can be a window to the past. My dad kept all the letters Mom wrote to him when he was in the army. Reading them shows you what life was like in the 1940s.
I have written a column for children in Two-Lane Livin' Magazine for two years. It seems like it was just yesterday when I emailed the editor with a sample of my writing and asked if she would consider me for a columnist. I took the chance and was given the opportunity.
You never know if you will succeed unless you try. You never know if your story is good enough unless you submit. You never know if the words are inside you unless you sit down and write. You never know what doors will open unless you knock.
Be brave. Take chances. Grab opportunities.
Happy Writing
Janet, thank you! I need some encouragement this morning. You are so right about the difference in real letters and email. I love email; it really makes my life easier. But when you are serious, a personal letter needs to be written with your hands! I get so few hand-written notes and letters nowadays.
ReplyDeleteHow very true, I think all of us have to battle with the fear of rejection.
ReplyDeleteSo very true, Janet!
ReplyDeleteWhat an inspiring post! I totally agree. Always knock. Always ask. Never give up.
ReplyDeleteI love to write, but there's always that fear that no one will be interested in what I have to say. Just last week I loaned a copy of my book to a woman, and when she brought it back she said that now she knows who I am and that she cried at times while reading it. I felt flattered. lol
ReplyDeleteGreat post, Janet. It is so easy to talk myself out of submitting something that I've written and I know that that is the only way to get my writing out there. Thanks for the pep talk!
ReplyDeleteLike you, I adore letters. Soon they will be totally a thing of the past:(
Lovely upbeat post! Thank you!
ReplyDeleteGreat words of encouragement!
ReplyDeleteSo true-one of my writer friends who teaches writing says if you never send it in you'll never know!
ReplyDelete