The section from King's On Writing that I struggled with the first time I read this and am still struggling with now that I'd like to explore is his discussion about rejection.
King gives us this brilliantly short memoir-style introduction into his life, and where writing fits into that, among the other mishaps and adventures he takes. On pages 39 - 41, King discusses his first rejection letter from Alfred Hitchcock's Mystery Magazine, in which he is told to never staple manuscripts. He promptly nails this to his wall, only to be followed by many, many others, and eventually replaces the nail with a "spike" (41). Jeez. I'm drawn to this hardworking, young optimism King portrays himself as in this scene, as well as the smarts and courage it takes to send stories into actual publications. I guess this is more of a reflection on myself than on King's actions, because this is NOT the kind of writer I see myself as. I've turned papers in to teachers, reports in to newsletters, and emails to various figures in my circles, authoritative and not, but I don't think I've ever submitted a story for review by a literary publication. My interpretation of this is that King just threw himself, head-on, into his writing. He had ideas popping into his brain left and right that he wrote and submitted. That's the process.
Um, what?
I've spent the last 15 years of my life in school learning to craft my writing. I've gone through major, major development in how I form and phrase my ideas. My writing has always revolved around the academic sphere, which I groaned and muddled all through middle and high school, but as a soon to graduate college student, I'm thankful for this focus, variety, and intensity of work. At the risk of creating an unnecessary distinction between "creative" and "academic" work (yes, I know, Doug, there is no real division there, even if I pretend there is), I've always enjoyed doing my own personal writing and journaling, though I've never created anything coherent beyond a few pages or a fully formed poem or two.
I'm okay with that. I'm not looking to submit anything.
I'm looking to communicate, to transport ideas back and forth, to translate information from one side of a company to their audience. I'm looking to innovate and inspire. I'm not looking for my name in lights, I'm looking to better my company and achieve a common goal as a team. Additionally, I'm looking to share my personal writing with others in hopes of connecting through vulnerability and real talk (ahem, Palmer). I'm not looking to go "viral" with my blog.
Just like King, I have stories that I want to tell and share, but how they are being shared and where they end up differ completely between the two of us. I respect our differences as writers (if I've learned anything from my time here, it's that there is no one right way to be a ~*~writer~*~ -- we are all too coddled in our special snowflake-ness to be forced into similarity), but I'm going to assert that I will become a successful writer due to my years of building a solid educational foundation about writing to enter the business world.
After writing this, I feel like King is probably snorting at me, jerking his thumb over his shoulder at me and grumbling, "Amateur. Who does she think she is?"
You know, he's probably right. And I totally respect his work habits and his writing. But, it's hard to read a book of this nature and not get defensive of my own views about writing. I'm not ready to view myself in any other way that I currently do as a writer, and I probably won't let that go for a while. So, I'm going to enjoy King, but argue for myself simultaneously.
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