| I have to be honest: I hate blackjack. Poker? No | | | | experience, and reputation piece by piece. Though |
| thanks. Craps? Don't even get me started. But | | | | I realize all this now, after a few years of sending |
| what I do like is writing. Short stories, newspaper | | | | out a hodge-podge of submissions, and none too |
| articles, feature film scripts...you name it, I've | | | | consistently, I was frustrated. Then I had a |
| written it. But I've recently come to realize that | | | | writing epiphany. I realized I was approaching the |
| my love of writing and my disdain for gambling | | | | rest of my life---my finances, my apartment hunt, |
| must meet and make beautiful music together. | | | | even my relationships---with the dedication I |
| Why? Because getting your work out to the | | | | wasn't giving to the most important thing in my |
| world and, better yet, published is a crapshoot. To | | | | life: my writing career. |
| be a success, you've got to play the odds. | | | | It wasn't that I didn't devote enough time to the |
| Being a writer means your livelihood depends on | | | | actual craft of writing. On the contrary, I did it for |
| submitting manuscript after manuscript to a bevy | | | | hours on end, literally wearing through the "N" and |
| of faceless names in far away cities. Why? So | | | | "M" keys on my poor laptop. I had amassed |
| they can decide if they want to publish your | | | | volumes of material, yet success still eluded me. I |
| words. Promoting yourself is a necessity. But | | | | thought about the time I was applying for jobs |
| what's the hardest thing for most authors to do? | | | | after college. I'd sent out hundreds of resumes at |
| Send out their work. It's a depressing pain. I used | | | | a time, spending hours faxing, emailing and |
| to feel that way. I had written a television show | | | | following up. The hunt for employment actually |
| for Fox as well as written and directed two short | | | | became my job. Now, years later, it was time to |
| films. Next, I wanted to conquer the literary world. | | | | treat writing with the same dedication and |
| Butgetting my book published or my article into | | | | respect. But that's the eternal writer's Catch-22: I |
| the next issue of Vogue seemed a daunting task. | | | | didn't have time for another full-time job. Then |
| I wrote a carefully composed manuscript and | | | | lightening struck again: what if someone took |
| thought that sending my precious baby out into | | | | away the drudgery of the submission process |
| the world a few times (okay, four) was enough. I | | | | (the aimless Internet searching, the manuscript |
| assumed some editor somewhere was bound to | | | | printing, the stamp-licking) so writers could get |
| see it and proclaim its genius to the whole editorial | | | | down to the business of writing? It would be a |
| staff. What I wasn't thinking about was that on | | | | victory for scribes everywhere, because they |
| the other side of the submission queue was a | | | | could send out more work than ever. An efficient |
| towering stack of manuscripts written by people | | | | submission system is the Holy Grail hard-working |
| just like me, who were just as talented as me, | | | | authors the world over have been looking for. |
| and the majority of whom would get | | | | Take a writer like J.K. Rowling: it's easy to forget |
| rejected...just like me. | | | | that Ms. Rowling sent her writing out for years, |
| Unfortunately, the reality of writing for publication | | | | endured numerous rounds of rejection, and was |
| is that you will get rejected. A lot. Remember, | | | | even on welfare for a time. Now she's literally |
| even Joyce Carol Oates gets rejected. Mastering | | | | richer than the Queen of England. Why? |
| your craft is only a piece of the puzzle. Getting | | | | Because she kept sending her work out. |
| published is a numbers game. The only way to | | | | She didn't run out of steam after the fourth |
| win it is to send out as much work as possible, as | | | | rejection or even the fortieth, she persevered. |
| often as possible. Everyone starts out on ground | | | | She stuck it out. J.K. Rowling stacked the odds in |
| zero: no contacts, no published clips, maybenot | | | | her favor and guess what? She hit the jackpot. |
| even an MFA. As a writer, you need to prove | | | | Big time. And someday, so will you. |
| yourself and build up your relationships, | | | | |