Staying on the theme of keeping on writing -
This is the teaser at the end of the On Reflection column in this week's People's Friend.
Those who've been around the group for a while will know I usually protest that I don't remember what this is all about.
And it's true in this case as well.
When you are starting out, it's all about getting that first piece in print. I remember it vividly. It was a poem in a magazine called Cutting Teeth. They paid with an actual five pound note, which I framed for posterity. It hung on my living room wall for a week or two, until I really needed a fiver!
When I had my first piece accepted by the Francis Gay column, I was ecstatic. A national newspaper! And the option was there to do more.
The excitement of getting those first pieces published was soon overwhelmed by the panic of "What do I do now?"
The thing is - much as getting work published is important to many of us. We aren't writers because of that. We are writers because we are writers. And that means we write.
Publication is a good excuse for a celebration, but that next thing is always tugging at the back of our minds, waiting for us to craft it into reality.
Write. And then write the next thing. If you do send word away, don't let it worry you so much that you stop creating. Because that can happen.
Send it out there to stand or fall on its own merits. Let it go and begin again.
As for why we all need to be loved - I have three other submissions with that editor waiting to be placed. And I ought to be working on the next.
So, no. I have no idea what it's about. I'll look forward to reading it next week with the rest of you!
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