THERE IS HOPE!

In any field, it is important to become educated about how it works. New authors have a host of resources to do so as there are a vast amount of websites, magazines, and online programs dedciated to helping with this process. When I first decided to get back into writing I started by taking an online course at Gotham Writing school. One of the themes that emerges with clarity from all these sources is how difficult it is to get published in today's ultra competitive market.

Gotham was an excellent experience and I met a number of great people whom formed a facebook group through which we still have contact (I have not been as consistent in this as I want, I must admit). It had been a great place to share hopes, frustrations, and information with such support being invaluable for emerging authors. One of the main themes has been the pursuit of being published and/or an agent.

Recently, one of the writers whom is part of this group reported she secured an agent for a book she has completed. It is important to mention that she did so by submitting unsolicited manuscripts. It occurred to me that it is important to keep in mind that while at times such success seems an infinite distance off, it is important to realize successes do happen. As we all struggle to keep ourselves moving forward, often with vast amounts of time between concrete successes, highlighting such successes hopefully will reinrfoce the fact that there is hope.

GUEST CORNER

I am pleased to announce the first official posting in the "Guest Corner" section of the website. One of the goals of the website is to offer emerging authors resources to help them with their pursuit of getting published. This article was written by "Writer's Relief" and talks about the length of a piece in relation to publishing. it gives a glimpse of some of the thought processes of an editor who is reading a story and food for thought in terms of the importance of considering length when thinking of publication. I hope it is helpful!