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Inclinations

Priscilla Fagan

BEWARE the Ease of Publication

Who said it's not easy becoming a published writer? What with 500,000 manuscripts being sent to publishers yearly and only about five thousand of them actually making it to the bookshelves, wouldn't you agree?

However, today we have the Internet: it offers us e-zines, ebooks, and even dot-coms. We can submit a story or poem to an e-zine, we can be coerced into paying some big bucks to have our novel put into an e-book, or we can just click on a site, post our work and receive a pittance for it. What's wrong here?

I'll tell you what's wrong, in my opinion. Except for a few select e-zines such as T-Zero and a very few select e-presses, there is no editing staff, there is no panel saying this person needs to hone their skills, there are no guidelines to what gets printed. Where is the craft of writing?

To quote Leon Trotsky, "Technique is noticed most markedly in the case of those who have not mastered it." We, as writers know this. I can't read a book without noticing technique, grammar, POV, characterization, and oh yes, editing goofs. (I'm not talking about the occasional misspelled word either.) "The grate art in writing well, iz tew know when tew stop." Josh Billings, 1867.

Using this quote, which is true in its nature, as an example, I've seen work like this published in e-zines. Need I say BEWARE? Writing is an art form, but if we don't keep that in mind, then our chances may be doomed to ever get on the shelves as a viable author.

You never know who's reading your submission or column in one of the hundreds of online zines, so it's in your best interest to make sure that you are publishing the best piece you possibly can. Truman Capote said it simply: "Good writing is rewriting." I don't know about others, but boy, when I write a column or send a story for publication, I want it reviewed and sent back if it needs rewriting. T-Zero does this. It has an excellent editing staff and now a fiction panel. So, if you're asked to rewrite something, do it with a smile. It's in your best interest. If an e-zine can't take the time to do this, then I don't want to be associated with it. For these very reasons, I have resigned from one of these e-zines; perhaps that's why I'm so vocal at this time.

Yes, becoming a published novelist is my goal, but that means more than just seeing my name and words in print. I will choose wisely, until then. So beware, the ease of publication. Choose carefully. The Army doesn't have sole rights to the phrase, "Be the best that you can be."

I will leave you with this thought-provoking Inclination: "Writing came easy. It would only get hard when I got better at it." Garry Wills.

Priscilla
the eternal optimist