The reality is that editors are gatekeepers and everything they publish is chosen based on their aesthetic preferences, bias, and persnickety personal taste. It’s the MFA notion of writing in a vacuum. They make a lot of $$$ on writers paying to submit their work and then either never hear back or wait 9+ months to receive an auto rejection. Really everyone ends up writing for one reader — the editor. That’s why all the poetry these days is indistinguishable. Most writers give up and never publish b/c they think if they’re getting rejected by lit mags their writing isn’t good enough. Not true. Kay Ryan, Seamus Heaney, Stephen King never submitted to mags or journals until after they became bestselling authors and were invited to submit. Jhumpa Lahiri received only rejections until she hit the NYTimes bestseller list. Write and publish your book. Don’t wait for an editor to tell you you’re a good writer.
I'm revising a memoir, and as I'm cutting parts, it seems smart to consider building them out and trying to place them elsewhere. NOT a trained creative writer, so so much at that end of writing is new (and hard and sometimes overwhelming and lonely). So my deep gratitude for the smarts, pragmatics, friendliness, and yes, the jokes (loved 'em, htg). Truly.
Yay! Oh good. Hahah there are plenty more coming. I think my partner might be getting annoyed with me as I keep asking, "So is this one funny? OK, how about this new one?"
Thank goodness! I have been overwhelmed in my ADD brain with cobbling all of these bits together and it has put a complete halt on my writing. This will be sooooo helpful!
I was trying to subscribe and got this message from my bank: "Chase Fraud: We declined your card at WRITE OR DIE." Well, when they put it that way...LMAO. (All good now.)
Hi! I don’t know if I’m missing something or if it’s brain fog, but I can’t figure out how to register for this workshop. Is there a specific link? Thanks!
Ah! Sorry about that. If you go here: https://writeordie101.substack.com/ and you're subscribed already to the newsletter, then this course will be coming for free. Starts Monday. Just click the free option when you sign up if you don't want to become a paid subscriber.
Ben, I hope whoever advised you that your jokes wouldn’t land read all of these comments and realized they were so, so wrong. I hope that after that you gave them a smug smile and a big EFF YOU!
Thanks for doing this! I spent 2023 with a goal to write one short story a month (minus a few months where I dealt with personal stuff) and I'm trying to work up the nerve to submit my work since frankly it's getting out of hand. Very excited for this!
The reality is that editors are gatekeepers and everything they publish is chosen based on their aesthetic preferences, bias, and persnickety personal taste. It’s the MFA notion of writing in a vacuum. They make a lot of $$$ on writers paying to submit their work and then either never hear back or wait 9+ months to receive an auto rejection. Really everyone ends up writing for one reader — the editor. That’s why all the poetry these days is indistinguishable. Most writers give up and never publish b/c they think if they’re getting rejected by lit mags their writing isn’t good enough. Not true. Kay Ryan, Seamus Heaney, Stephen King never submitted to mags or journals until after they became bestselling authors and were invited to submit. Jhumpa Lahiri received only rejections until she hit the NYTimes bestseller list. Write and publish your book. Don’t wait for an editor to tell you you’re a good writer.
For me, the joke landed.
I thought this was free. Apparently not.
hey there! Where do we find the actual workshop? The page does not have a link and going back through your site, I cannot find it. Thanks!
Me too.
5. Landed with a belly laugh
Definitely expect an email from me. Expect cutthroat kindness and gratitude.
It didn't land but the last line did.
I laughed out loud at the Internet joke ;-)
Hell yeah. Thank you for telling me.
A book I like to refer to is The Poet's Companion by Kim Addonizio & Dorianne Laux, two excellent poets.
oh excellent! I will check those out
thanks for running this course. i'm looking forward to it!
Happy to. And welcome!
I'm revising a memoir, and as I'm cutting parts, it seems smart to consider building them out and trying to place them elsewhere. NOT a trained creative writer, so so much at that end of writing is new (and hard and sometimes overwhelming and lonely). So my deep gratitude for the smarts, pragmatics, friendliness, and yes, the jokes (loved 'em, htg). Truly.
Yay! Oh good. Hahah there are plenty more coming. I think my partner might be getting annoyed with me as I keep asking, "So is this one funny? OK, how about this new one?"
Thank goodness! I have been overwhelmed in my ADD brain with cobbling all of these bits together and it has put a complete halt on my writing. This will be sooooo helpful!
Yay! I will do my best. And the floor is open for questions all the way through so even if I miss something in a lesson, I won't leave you hanging.
I was trying to subscribe and got this message from my bank: "Chase Fraud: We declined your card at WRITE OR DIE." Well, when they put it that way...LMAO. (All good now.)
Hahah oh no! Damn Substack/Stripe. Also we just launched this so maybe they're like, "Hey, who tf is this?"
Hi! I don’t know if I’m missing something or if it’s brain fog, but I can’t figure out how to register for this workshop. Is there a specific link? Thanks!
Ah! Sorry about that. If you go here: https://writeordie101.substack.com/ and you're subscribed already to the newsletter, then this course will be coming for free. Starts Monday. Just click the free option when you sign up if you don't want to become a paid subscriber.
Thank you!
Ben, I hope whoever advised you that your jokes wouldn’t land read all of these comments and realized they were so, so wrong. I hope that after that you gave them a smug smile and a big EFF YOU!
#5 landed. I laughed out loud and startled the dog. So, I like you. TBD on the dog.
Thanks for doing this! I spent 2023 with a goal to write one short story a month (minus a few months where I dealt with personal stuff) and I'm trying to work up the nerve to submit my work since frankly it's getting out of hand. Very excited for this!
haha I know the feeling. I will cover a LOT and will have every lesson open for questions so no matter what, I think it should help.