Sunday, July 18, 2010

WAITING (Guest Post by Luke Romyn)

Here's what you need to know about Luke Romyn:  He lives in Cairns, Australia, between the Great Barrier Reef and the Daintree Rainforest. He's an extremely talented writer (I read The Dark Path and slept with the lights on for two weeks).  He spent 15 years in the security business only to jump into the most insecure business available--publishing.  Below are his thoughts on the subject of WAITING: 


Waiting….


Every writer who has tried to get their work published in any way, shape or form knows what I’m talking about.

Waiting….

Aspiring authors, prepare yourself for the wondrous world of limbo which exists between completing your work, polishing it to perfection, submitting it to whatever or whoever you have chosen will be honored with receiving such a wondrous gift of imagination and skill and –

Waiting….

Waiting….

Waiting….

Sometimes you’ll get that letter. You know the one. It’s the stamped, self addressed envelope you sent away with your submission, which you yearn to open and yet dread to see what it’ll say. We always open it, hoping it’ll say our dreams are about to come true.

Wrong!

Your world crashes down around you and you never, ever want to write another thing ever again, but being the eternal optimist you are you send off another submission the next day… and the next time… and every time you get that rejection. Because you’re a writer.

Writers are not only people born with perfect diction, nor are they always fantastical wordsmiths who can create vistas beyond the imaginings of mere mortals by threading their multi-syllable words together in such ways to break through new barriers in the art of articulation.

No.

A writer is something else entirely. A writer wakes each day yearning to express themselves through words, their mind and imagination screaming for release through the power of strikes on a keyboard or the scribbling of pen on paper. Other skills which they may require can be learned, but the heart of a writer remains the same, regardless of their background, ethnicity, education or religion.

Because they are the ones who will fight through those rejections, battling self doubt and endure the endless –

Waiting….

– forever with the hope that one day, just one time, that letter will contain the one word which will have made all the pain and stress worthwhile. Three letters each and every writer universally yearn to hear:

Y-E-S.

9 comments:

  1. Thanks Gary and Luke. There's a reason I follow you two on Twitter and follow what you're doing elsewhere. Because I'm...wait for it...wait for it...waiting...

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  2. Great post! And so true. I've waited up to a year and longer, a time or two. Not easy to do, but patience is the key.

    Here's something else...usually the longer the wait, the better chance you have of getting good news. The wait means it is being read, and maybe by more than one person. That can only be good. Those things that come back to you almost before you've mailed them haven't even been looked at.

    I have a friend who, after two weeks and hearing nothing, wanted to give up and self-publish her book. It took all my restraint not to smack her silly with a big stick.

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  3. Great post!! I believe that we write because we have to, not because we want to. The passion is there, the story wants to be told, and the writer is the only person who can make that happen. Good thing you stuck with it, my friend, or I'd never have had the chance to read The Dark Path or any of your other work that I KNOW is going to be published!!

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  4. "A writer is someone yearning to express themselves..."...so true.I sometimes wrestle with this compulsion of mine, finding the time, all these ideas screaming to get out.
    So much so that if I haven't managed to snatch enough time here and there throughout the day, I will not sleep until I finally can find the time to do so.
    Loved your post!

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  5. Wonderful words, Luke. Thanks for expressing what is in so many hearts and minds. You honored all of us.

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  6. You hit the nail on the head. What would a writer be without the 'waiting'?

    Still following you on twitter and getting a kick out of your hilarious 140s.

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  7. Brilliant Post - writing is my oxygen - and I try not to hold my breath when I'm waiting!
    Light and Laughter from Ireland

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  8. Luke that is oh so true. I could see my writing life spinning before me as I read your words.
    I have a draw full of rejections. But I knew that one day I would get THAT letter with the word Y-E-S.
    I'm now published but no sitting on laurel leaves though. I'm working alongside my publisher to promote it.
    Hence the plug after my name.
    Teresa
    The Eye of Erasmus

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