Aphelion

You are cute! I was 47 when I had my first stuff published...

K.

<br><br>I, on the other hand, had 'stuff published' -- for money, anyway (placing in a couple of contests, one with probably few entries, the other with thousands -- but I only made it into the top 70 or so in that one) -- waaaay back when I was but a lad of 26 or so in late 1981 (I think). Of course, the number of times I've made money from writing since then averages out to about once every 5 or 6 YEARS.<br><br>Writing ain't like advanced mathematics or physics -- at 30, you're just a baby. Experience counts, in terms of living and writing, so you have to figure that the best is yet to come as long as you have two brain cells to rub together and a way to interface to something that records the resulting smoke signals.<br><br>That's my theory, and I'm sticking to it.<br><br>Robert M.

All of us get discouraged from time to time. <br><br>I know I do, a little more with each rejection, even though I've gotten so many over the years. Lean on your fellow writers for comfort & work your way through it.<br><br>To do otherwise is a waste. Think about how much time you've invested in learning this craft. Are you going to abandon that work, that effort? Or would you rather stick it out & get the payout?<br><br>I've been writing for over 20 years, published for money painful few times, and only now am getting personal rejections instead of form ones on a fairly regular basis. Over that whole period I was convinced that my work was good enough to be published and only bad luck was keeping me out. Now I can look back on what I wrote then and admit the truth--it wasn't very good. Certainly, there is a degree of luck involved, but mostly it's skill of the writer. <br><br>That may not seem encouraging at first, but how else will one become a better storyteller without telling more stories? Those dreams, those stories are inside you, like it or not. Since they're going to bubble to the surface anyway, why not earn something for them?<br><br>The only way to do that is to keep writing, keep perfecting your craft. No one can say how long it will take, but I'll guarantee you'll never get there if you stop trying.<br><br>Nate

hey Nate you're sounding suspiciously like someone else..are we looking at a case of invasion of the individual-thinking writer snatchers?

Lee

<br>Well, it has been some time since I checked for pods in the basement...<br><br>Was I channeling this time? Or was it just that I was going for a friendly, helpful tone instead of my usual self? :)<br><br>Nate

forget about pods, was there a flurry of sanitation trucks outside your window last couple of nights?

and you did sound a bit as if sides have been switched in the ol debate, or to quote an anonymous favorite, "say it enough and it stops being propaganda".

Lee

<br>I must have missed the garbage trucks. What one is that from?<br><br>No, I still contend that the slush system is unfair to the new writer. Individual editors and readers are fair and do not deliberately treat newbies unfairly. And yes, 95% of newbie writing is, in fact, awful. However, the system upholds the status quo, and makes it more difficult for new writers to break in.<br><br>But what are you going to do? The slush system that is there exists because it works for the publishing industry, and therefore is unlikely to change.<br><br>Shouting at the rain won't make it stop (I don't have that kind of pull). The only thing I can do as an individual writer is keep trying to write a better and better story until such time that I've written such a good tale that it cannot be denied, and it breaks the "barrier." <br><br>What I have written before now may well have been good enough to be published if I were an established name (I'd like to think so, anyway), but I'm not. They were not good enough to break through as a new author (at least, new to anywhere that pays pro rates).<br><br>All we can do is write better--it's the only option left open to us.<br><br>Nate<br><br>PS--I hope this doesn't get me roasted alive again. All that burn cream made me itch.