I’ve been writing for nearly 30 years, and I never stop being frustrated by how difficult it is to get my work published (or even featured in online publications). At the same time, though I know that writers (including me) typically eat their guts out trying to figure out why a particular piece didn’t make the grade with a particular editor, here’s what I’ve come to realize: You almost never really know why. Or let me put it another way: If you get rejected and you do understand exactly why, that’s very likely a sign that you shouldn’t have submitted in the first place — the piece wasn’t ready, it wasn’t the right publication, or whatever else your gut told you was true. For the Still Blue Project, I’m looking for a very specific kind of writing — it has to be good writing, obviously, but it also needs to combine queerness and working-classness in a way that appeals to my aesthetic. That’s not a very objective criterion, but it’s mine. Of course it’s true that Still Blue does feature work by “MFAs and award winners,” but there’s also work on the site from people who’ve never published anything before, who don’t have advanced degrees, or who do something else for a living (other than write, I mean). The answer to all of this, in any case, is to keep writing–though it sounds like you hardly need my encouragement for that! Your work will keep getting better (from your own standpoint, as well as in the eyes of editors and readers) and you’ll have more of what looks to you like success. In the end, the people who get published are those who simply never, ever give up. In closing, I can’t resist one tiny piece of advice: Beware of those who tell you that every word you write is the most amazing thing they’ve ever read, that you’re an unrecognized genius, that you’re the incarnation of Virginia Woolf — as artists, we need that kind of praise for our morale, which is often fragile, and that’s just fine. As a practical and technical matter, however, it is all but useless for your writing. Kind regards. W.

New people are always welcome, and vital. I hope nobody ever feels like they wouldn’t fit in, because there’s really no “fit” here other than sharing stories and opinions, and I think the commenter’s views are every bit as important as my own.

I’m working on a new post…hopefully it will be up tonight tomorrow late late tonight.