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Newbie Notes

Margaret I. Carr

Getting Published

Why

Admit it. For most of us the goal, dream, grail for which we spend long hours with keyboard, pen or pencil is seeing our work in print. For some nothing will do but a best-seller; for others, a more modest success will be enough.

Writing is communication, and publication links us to those with whom we wish to communicate. Books that promise to tell us how to break into print sit on our shelves only a little less dusty than the books about techniques to perfect our style, transform us into skilled spellers, grammar gurus or plotting pundits. Given the opportunity we quiz anyone who might give us the tip that will catch an editor's eye.

Pitfalls along the way

Many tempting shortcuts beckon fledgling writers. The tedious process of writing, writing, writing, editing, proofreading, revising and then submitting, submitting and submitting yet again is, well, tedious. Surely there must be some way to shorten the process.

In addition to many legitimate contests there are some which exist apparently solely for the purpose of garnering entry fees for the benefit of the sponsors. Then there are the contests that promise winners will be published in anthologies, supposedly prestigious, that reward all entrants with an announcement that they are semifinalists and include order blanks for the anthologies. Those who order the anthologies are indeed published in them, along with everyone else who bought them.

Free pages on the Web can be a great way of showcasing your work for the general surfer, but don't expect editors or publishers to notice. In fact, if you go that route before being otherwise published you'd better hope they won't notice because they will consider it, at best, as having used first rights and in some countries anything published on the Web (at least in sites that are not password-protected and can therefore be accessed by the general public) to have gone into the public domain.

So what's a Newbie to do?

Don't give up dreaming. Practical daydreaming can be one of your most useful tools. (More about this in a later issue.) Make a plan. With the beginning of the new year , a new year which some consider the end of the millennium and others the beginning of the new millennium, a one-year plan seems appropriate. Consider what you can do during this next year that will bring you closer to your goal. Make it simple enough to be achievable. Use the rest of this month for planning and some practice. Even if you spend the whole year writing practice pieces you will end up ahead.

Planning doesn't have to be detailed. Simply ask yourself a few questions and write down the answers.

• What type of writing do you enjoy most?
• What type of writing do you find easiest?
• What single skill would you most like to improve?

One of the biggest assets you can have is a support group. To make the most of a support group you need to participate. Just collecting what other people think of your work is of limited value. When you read someone else's work and try to identify their strengths and weaknesses you are also training your subconscious. If you tend to be negative about your own work it is particularly important to look for what others do well and try to figure out how they do it.

If you've found either Fiction 99 or WVU or both, you are on your way. The Study Groups provide a group of peers, some more skilled, some less, who will both teach you by example and learn from you. The classes and workshops and seminars will also help. Check them out on the WVU Calendar. Above all, keep at it and watch this space for more.