Thoughts on Writing

Why Submit Work for Publication?

Cookery writers don't assume that you plan to start a home catering business. Car maintenance manuals don't promise that "you're only 293 pages away from a rewarding career as a professional mechanic!"  Yet most of the creative writing guides relentlessly dangle the prospect of publication as the ultimate carrot -- as if the dominant (only?) motivation for writing is a 100,ooo copy print run, with a film option, if you please.

Writing for and about children enriches the experience of raising them.  It requires you to slow down, see the world through their eyes, and connect with them through a world of your shared invention.  Therefore, I  encourage parents and fellow travellers to write, develop their writing, and share it--as an end in itself.  All of this can be accomplished without penning a single, "Dear Overscheduled Agent" query.  You can become your family's resident bed-time raconteur or birthday doggerelist, write hit shows for your kids' youth theatre or--hey! there's an idea!--blog.

So forget about publication? Not so fast . . .

Seeking publication can invigorate the experience of writing provided that you treat the submission process as an opportunity to develop as a writer, no matter how long it takes for your work to find a publisher.  Here is my short-list of reasons to give it a go:

·     To prepare work for submission, you must review it critically, and seek feedback from trusted allies.  You clarify your guiding premises, develop the work's possibilities, and purge it of sloppy fixes.  You will have the satisfaction of seeing your writing improve exponentially.

·    To submit work, you must research the market in your chosen sector--industry-ese for learning everything you can about the writing and writers you love.

·       Seeking publication provides a motivation to reach out to role models and mentors -- Find out if your favourite authors are offering public readings or master classes, or sleuth out their contact details and ask if they would be willing to meet or chat by phone or Skype.

·      If your work is accepted for publication, not only is the published volume a thrill in itself, but you can also use it to build your community of like-minded readers and writers.  Your book can be your calling card at writer's events, and gain you access to professional writers groups, or you can offer to present readings at local schools, libraries and book stores.

·     And of course, you could beat the odds, and your book could generate real income.  If this happens, please let me know how it's done.

While it is beyond MW’s remit to advise on seeking a publisher, the Write4Kids website is a good place to start and the Children’s Writers and Artists Yearbook is essential.  

Good luck!

PS.  "Submission"--what an inappropriately timorous term to denote the bold act of offering one's thoughts-in-writing to the reading public.  I would prefer to "advance," "hazard," or "champion" my work for publication any day.  If writers can't revolutionise the process, we should at least try to re-articulate it.  We're supposed to be good with words.

4 March 2012