FB Post About Being A "Published" Author and the Way You Make It to That Point Emotionally

We had been discussing having the "strength", wear-with-all, tenacity and actually having the "nerve" to publish your work and put it out there for all the world to see. That can be a very scary thing to do. It is okay for friends, family, and spouses to see it, but to have the entire globe out there to "critique" your work is something that you must be willing to stand up to, and know inside what you write is good. It may not be awesome to some people, but for others it may touch them deeply. So, this was a post from this morning about my feelings of finally becoming published...

I have written for many, many years, as the information said, since I was 13 actually. Yet, I was in fear of being rejected for a long while, thus I did not have anything published. About 6 years ago, I bought a book with all of the publishers in it, and how to send your poetry to them, and details of just what they wanted, when, how and so forth. It has not been that long ago that even "self-publishing" was extremely expensive. Just to get a book published in that way may cost upwards of $800.00 and possibly much more, then you had to buy a certain number of books to even be able to get through all of the process. Things are so much easier now (there is still lots to go through, especially if you design it all yourself), but you can do the majority of the work yourself, and the costs have went down so they have made it more affordable for those that may not have found it that way just a few years back. When I went through the entire process of mailing my poetry off to different publishers, that was a nightmare honestly. Many of them of course were rejected, for one reason or the other, others I never heard from, but I did have one publisher, that even though he rejected a poem I sent in, he took the time to actually in his own hand writing, give me some suggestions, and told me to resubmit my poetry at a certain date. He was very interested in it, and would consider publishing me the next time around they took poems in. that process really is for someone that can stand rejection and not take it personally. Kind of like Tom Clancy, whose first 3 books were rejected when he submitted them. Then someone lied his 4th book, and what happened? Not only did it get published, but so did those other 3, that previously were rejected. So, it takes a great deal of tenacity, and the ability to know your work is good, but it may just not be what they are looking for at the moment. I finally got some poetry published online through a gentleman that still does a monthly newsletter. He posted several of my poems monthly, along with some of my other writing. After that, I became ill with the Lupus (or was finally diagnosed with it the RA, possibly FM, and went into 7 surgeries in a year, along with several more after that). I was not able to sit at the computer for very long. So, I had to put off the publishing portion, but I still tried to write daily. Many of my pieces are current, and then others are some from a few years ago that are my favorites in this first book, "Ramblings of A Seasoned Soul" - Brush Strokes of Life in Words. I think I relate writing in many ways that I do trying to have the stamina, the strength, the internal power, with out eyes on the "goal", of living! We must fight these illnesses from moment to moment, kind of like writing is a daily process that takes a great deal of the same things... you have to find that inner part of you that just will not give into the nightmare of pain and chronic illness. So, we have days that we find ourselves riddled with all kinds of doubt and dismay. So, we have to find our way out of that black hole, and into the light again. Same way in writing, days it feels awesome, and other days you feel like you cannot write a word. But, we do it, live, write, whatever we do, we pull out that part of us that in i the very core of our being. I hope all of you ow just how strong you are, that you are fighting the "good fight" as the saying goes, and you are truly worth it. May you be blessed during this holiday season, and find all of the pure and true reasons you are thankful for.