If no one read my work, would I still write?
Yes!
I don't have a choice. The stories and themes clamor for expression. So many years, so many queries, even a few elevator pitches, 5 children's novels, a memoir, written and rewritten, critiqued, polished, nearly 1000 Twitter followers, a significant platform - still waiting for a response to my queries. I value rejections. At least they make me feel visible.
Publishing is a business, not a religion. June 5, 2014 on NPR’s On Point the subject was Amazon Versus The Book Publishers – a one-sided conversation at best. The discussion included some down-the-nose-snorting about “Vanity Publishing.”
http://onpoint.wbur.org/2014/06/05/amazon-prices-ebooks-hachette
The online discussion that ensued was the other side, the side that didn’t make it to the radio waves. The comments were about the flawed system, the exhausting dance of the unpublished writer, and, yes, self-publishing.
Would I still write if no one read my work?
No one reads my journal, but I take pen to paper nearly every morning. How many people read my blogs? Or my tweets? Yet I continue to create, because I’m cursed. Words and ideas are the things that make me real.
And secretly I never give up hope that someone is out there who might be encouraged or entertained, by what comes into my head and is transformed by my craft onto a page. It is the hope that my thoughts and words, my stories might resonate with even one person (even if it’s just the me of tomorrow) that keeps me writing.
Mary-Jo Murphy
Yes!
I don't have a choice. The stories and themes clamor for expression. So many years, so many queries, even a few elevator pitches, 5 children's novels, a memoir, written and rewritten, critiqued, polished, nearly 1000 Twitter followers, a significant platform - still waiting for a response to my queries. I value rejections. At least they make me feel visible.
Publishing is a business, not a religion. June 5, 2014 on NPR’s On Point the subject was Amazon Versus The Book Publishers – a one-sided conversation at best. The discussion included some down-the-nose-snorting about “Vanity Publishing.”
http://onpoint.wbur.org/2014/06/05/amazon-prices-ebooks-hachette
The online discussion that ensued was the other side, the side that didn’t make it to the radio waves. The comments were about the flawed system, the exhausting dance of the unpublished writer, and, yes, self-publishing.
Would I still write if no one read my work?
No one reads my journal, but I take pen to paper nearly every morning. How many people read my blogs? Or my tweets? Yet I continue to create, because I’m cursed. Words and ideas are the things that make me real.
And secretly I never give up hope that someone is out there who might be encouraged or entertained, by what comes into my head and is transformed by my craft onto a page. It is the hope that my thoughts and words, my stories might resonate with even one person (even if it’s just the me of tomorrow) that keeps me writing.
Mary-Jo Murphy