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The Gage of Innocence By C.J. Van Gieson
Fun writer's quiz: In the business of writing, the seemingly endless cycle of submission and rejection can be: a.) daunting; b.) depressing; c.) downright dog-eat-dog; or d.) all of the above. Choose one. Ding, ding, ding, you win!
I know exactly what you're thinking: "Oh, here's a fresh approach to freelance writing-- negativity-- not so cleverly disguised as … sarcasm. Thanks, C.J.!"
Nay, good reader; not this time. Because that is just not how I roll. Today, I awoke with the Milk Duds™ of human kindness bumping through my veins. All I could think, as little blue birdies chirped about my head, was, "I cannot wait to get in front of that computer and share something inspirational and positive with my fellow writers-- lovely folk who have had it up to here with negativity, rejection, and pretension." I mean, life is already tough enough for we who suffer from cacoëthes scribendi, right?
So without further ado and in the interest of keeping all your typing fingers raw, wadding up barely-used sheets of that cheap copier paper from Staples, and staining Strunk and White with even more spilled joe, here is my tiny glimmer of encouragement.
I sold the very first piece of writing I ever submitted. Yes, that's right and so can you! All you need is what I had in abundance and will share with you here today, for a brief time only, and absolutely free.
I know what you're thinking: What did she have? Do I have it too? When the heck will she get to the gist of this article? Dramatic pause, drum roll, big finish-- TA DA! What I had was nothing more than plain, old fashioned… naiveté. I figured I was a pretty good writer, so I fired off a poem to a major greeting card publisher. I thought, "Hey, they have to buy somebody's writing-- why not mine?" How cute and misguided is that? Not half as cute as the check I received in payment, I assure you.
My little poem appeared on calendars, in anthologies, and on Mother's Day and Christmas cards. Ten years later, it still sells well, appearing on the company's websites in the USA, the UK, and France. Admittedly, now and then something is a bit, well, lost in the translation. But the byline is still mine, oh mine. Internationally, if you please.
So, do you have it too? Indeed, without a doubt. You possess a whopping dose of naiveté just to entertain the notion that you even stand a chance in a competitive business like ours. You also have spunk, pluck, and a couple of other nineteenth-century attributes, not the least of which is tenacity, because you sit down every day and stare at a blank screen, or page, and sometimes, just sometimes, magic happens.
By the way, lest you think this piece self-serving, I proffer for your consideration an amusing addendum: that same greeting card publisher proceeded to reject my next ten submissions. Youch! But it's that first one that kept me in the game. I'm naïve that way.
C.J. Van Gieson was a recent finalist for The Star Ledger's 2005 Munchmobile award for her humorous "term paper" on dueling weiner spots in New Jersey. She has written for Original Sin, Antagozine.com, and Blue Mountain Arts, and is currently working on a novel for young adults. C.J. lives in New Jersey with four cats, two terriers, two gerbils, an irascible red-ear slider, and a teen-aged son. Send help.
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