\u00a0Jon Hill<\/a>)<\/p>\nMy writing is private.\u00a0 It\u2019s for my eyes only.<\/b><\/p>\n
You don\u2019t know who out there needs your story.\u00a0 Whether poetry, fiction, or nonfiction, stories have the power to speak to the human experience and create connections.\u00a0 I\u2019ve needed books to laugh, to cry, and to rant with about how ridiculous life is.\u00a0 Readers can find themselves in characters.\u00a0 They can point to a particular line and say, \u201cThat\u2019s me!\u00a0 I feel that way all the time!\u201d\u00a0 I\u2019m so grateful for the writers who have brought both joy and pain into compelling writing, allowing me to have a cathartic experience while appreciating a story well told.\u00a0 Writers, we need you!\u00a0 Let us join hands with you.<\/p>\n
If the subject you write about is deeply personal\/emotional, I understand the hesitation.\u00a0 I kept a journal documenting my struggles with chronic anxiety that I didn\u2019t share with anyone.\u00a0 When I incorporated the entries into my memoir for senior thesis, I felt vulnerable, but I did it anyway\u00a0for the good of my story and my liberation from mental health stigma.\u00a0 Not saying this is for everyone, but perhaps letting go can encourage you like it encouraged me.<\/p>\n
Rejection will confirm I\u2019m a bad writer.<\/b><\/p>\n
Ohhhhh boy, do I know this feeling.\u00a0 First, a writer is not all that you are.\u00a0 You are many other things, but most of all, you are a human being.\u00a0 And whether you get published or not does not change the fact that you enjoy writing and that\u2019s why you do it. \u00a0That\u2019s why you should\u00a0keep<\/em>\u00a0doing it.<\/p>\nWhen Scripps alum and children\u2019s author Stacia Deutsch visited Scripps in 2015, she offered words of wisdom that I\u2019ve found helpful as a writer:\u00a0\u201cYes, you might get rejected, but you\u2019ll have\u00a0<\/i>no\u00a0chance if you don\u2019t submit anything.\u201d<\/i><\/p>\n
It\u2019s true that not every publication that you submit to will publish your work.\u00a0 Sometimes that\u2019s less of a commentary on the quality of your writing but more on whether your piece fits with their publications\u2019 niche or how many other people have turned in excellent work.\u00a0 Other times, your piece needs some more tweaking, and that happens!\u00a0 Ernest Hemingway said the first draft is anything is sh*t.\u00a0 Based on my experience, however, even the second, third, or fourth draft often feel pretty sh*tty too.\u00a0 That\u2019s the writing process.\u00a0 If I discover\u00a0a way to write a perfect draft on the first try, I will be sure to share it with you all.\u00a0 Meanwhile, we\u2019ll have to keep chugging away.<\/p>\n
I don\u2019t have time to get something ready for publication.<\/b><\/p>\n
Whatever time I spend refining, submitting, and stressing about a piece becomes worthwhile on the few occasions I do see my name in print.\u00a0 It\u2019s fun pointing your name out to your friends.\u00a0 Not only that, but if you\u2019re a writer looking to publish a book in the future or establish a professional writing career, it\u2019s helpful (if not also\u00a0necessary) to have publications to list on your resume.\u00a0 When budgeting your schedule, keep your writing time in mind rather than assume you\u2019ll \u201cget to it eventually.\u201d\u00a0 Even just setting one hour out of a your weekend can do wonders for flexing your writing muscle or putting your writing out there.\u00a0 If you really want to share your work, give yourself the chance to do that.<\/p>\n
Letting other people read your writing can feel scary, but you shouldn\u2019t\u00a0miss out on opportunities just because they\u2019re too risky. \u00a0You\u2019ll never know what will happen if you don\u2019t try. \u00a0So go on, give it a go!<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
If you\u2019re a writer, you have probably faced the terror of the \u201cSubmit\u201d button.\u00a0 So many stories\u00a0or poems\u00a0sit in a computer file or a desk …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":149,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[17],"class_list":["post-51","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-writing-advice","tag-bridgette-ramirez"],"acf":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/community.scrippscollege.edu\/scrippsjournal\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/29\/2017\/03\/fear.jpg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/community.scrippscollege.edu\/scrippsjournal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/51","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/community.scrippscollege.edu\/scrippsjournal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/community.scrippscollege.edu\/scrippsjournal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/community.scrippscollege.edu\/scrippsjournal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/community.scrippscollege.edu\/scrippsjournal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=51"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/community.scrippscollege.edu\/scrippsjournal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/51\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/community.scrippscollege.edu\/scrippsjournal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/149"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/community.scrippscollege.edu\/scrippsjournal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=51"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/community.scrippscollege.edu\/scrippsjournal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=51"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/community.scrippscollege.edu\/scrippsjournal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=51"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}