Author Elaine Togneri

Getting published is like growing a flower garden. You can hand mix potting and starter soil to obtain the perfect medium. (Take one good idea.) Dig a hole the right number of inches deep. (Develop characters and obstacles.) Insert the bulb right side up. (Write well.) Pat down the soil. (Revise.) Water and feed as directed. (Send to an appropriate market.) Wait for the plant to grow. (Check the mailbox every day.) See if you get a flower. (Does the envelope contain a sale or rejection?) You’ve only given yourself one chance at success.

Or you can do the same meticulous preparation with many bulbs. (Write many stories.) Growing conditions are different all over. (Selling conditions, too.) Some spots get too much shade. (Markets go out of business.) Other places have too much sun. (They’re overstocked.) You want to find the location that’s just right. (They like your writing.) The more bulbs you plant, the more chances for flowers. (The more stories you market, the greater the likelihood of landing on top of the right slush pile and making that sale.)

How’s your flower garden faring? You need more than patience to tend it. You need persistence. That’s that thing that keeps your characters going when you place them in an impossible situation. They have faith that you’ll write them out of it. Do you have faith that you’ll succeed? Can you overcome the weeds that threaten your flowers and the horde of insects that want to munch on them? It takes time to make it, even if your writing is outstanding. Many factors you have no control over affect a sale. If you can’t last long enough to get past those obstacles, your garden will be as stark as the landscape NJ wears in winter.

Patience comes to all who wait. But persistence is a strength of character tied into your very survival. If you’re alive, you have it. You merely need to recognize perseverance for it to work. It’s the ability to push yourself to stay awake and finish writing that scene. It’s the purchase of that book on writing instead of dinner out. It’s finding a new market for that story that’s been everywhere. It’s searching out and removing at least half the “and’s” in your story. Sometimes, it’s even writing an article like this to keep writing when the next scene of your story eludes you. Got it? Okay, now use it.