Writing
  Thought for the Writer's Day: How Do
I Get Published?
I had a meeting scheduled today with a couple of people
from a publisher. I showed up, but they didn't. They
left me a message saying they had to catch a flight.
This kind of thing is very frustrating and totally
unfair, but it comes with the turf. As a beginning writer,
I managed to get a series accepted at a magazine in
London. In between their acceptance and my delivery,
the editor left. I wrote the first two parts of the
series and sent them in, and the new editor replied
that he wasn't interested. What? The series was already
accepted!
I'm trying to disabuse you of the idea that the writer's
life is fair. It should be, but it isn't. Things will,
occasionally, go against you. This is where the sales
part of the writer's job kicks in. A buddy of mine has
an MBA and works for Proctor and Gamble. He tells me
that P&G's sales staff know that it takes an average
of six attempts to win new business. Those guys don't
even blink until someone has said "no" ten
times. They just pick themselves up, dust themselves
off, and start all over again.
If someone says "no" to me twice, I tend
to quit, but I'm slowly learning to ignore the rejection.
Instead, I take myself to the local park, walk three
miles, and then fly my model plane through a few barrel
rolls.
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