An Author’s Rite of Passage

An Author’s Rite of Passage

by Rasmenia Comment Closed
I was selling some of my books at a local book fair when a cheerful woman walked over, scanned my table, waved her hand over my display then asked, "But do you self-publish these stories or did someone else publish them?""Both."With a squint and a head tilt, she asked me to elaborate. I explained that I publish some small books on my own, and they're a mix of things that have been published in various places and some that haven't.She nodded. "That's good."She clearly wasn't keen on self-published books. That's cool. I'm all for self-publishing, obviously, but don't disagree with her. Stories need to go through a gauntlet. So do their writers. I want control over everything, but I also crave the validation that comes from having my stories go through a gatekeeper. I like to mix it up. I don't want people telling me what to do. But I do want them to validate me. I want criticism and...
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…& the Stack of Written Pages Grows Higher

by Rasmenia Comment Closed
"I write for myself and strangers. The strangers, dear Readers, are an afterthought."  - Gertrude Stein"Better to write for yourself and have no public, than to write for the public and have no self."  - Cyril Connolly"A man really writes for an audience of about ten persons. Of course if others like it, that is clear gain. But if those ten are satisfied, he is content."  - Alfred North Whitehead...A little more than 10 years ago, I signed up for the class.  "Freelance Writing" was the name of the course.  I was about 23 years old & was working in a factory.  I registered for the course because of the buzzing in my ear that constantly nagged me, reminding me that I had never set out to work in a noisy, stinking factory.Well...the buzzing could have been from the machinery in the factory, but either way, the message was the same.I signed up for the class, I paid the...
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