No Advice

Write and you’ll get advice.  Some years ago I signed up for Medium, a social network with many writers.  Now I get daily advice from the website, sometimes helpful, sometimes not.  You see, there’s no wrong way to write.

Days after receiving the happy news that Ghostlight had accepted “The Pain of a Caterpillar” for publication, The Colored Lens emailed to say they were seriously considering “Meh-Teh” for their next edition.  It’s not the same as an acceptance, but a struggling writer takes all the signs of hope offered.

Rod Serling, about whom I’ve written before, had a quote about writing that has stuck with me, although I can’t remember the exact words.  He noted that only writers understand the pain of rejection in the way with which we’re all so familiar.  As usual, he said it much more eloquently.  Still, having someone say “Maybe” is better than the more familiar “No.”

I call myself a struggling writer because I’ve been at this for over forty years and I still haven’t got it licked.  I’ve published non-fiction books under my real name, but they aren’t widely known.  Besides, fiction is where the heart is.

On Medium, the advice constantly flows.  I don’t post on this blog to give advice.  I do it simply to provide encouragement.  Those of us who write are an odd bunch.  Misfits, often.  I was out in a crowd the other night and couldn’t help noticing nobody else was dressed remotely like me.  No one else had a pen and a Moleskine in his pocket, ready to be pounced upon by an idea.  It was its own Twilight Zone.

I tried to publish my first story when I was a teen.  The experience was so traumatic that I wait three decades before I tried it again.  Now the occasional acceptances are starting to shuffle in.  Take heart, my writing siblings!  For me this has been a half-century journey.  And all it takes is one “Yes” to make it all worthwhile.