Last week I went to my first ever writing retreat.
It won’t be my last. Having a week with nothing to do but write or take inspirational walks turns out to be my idea of a wonderful time.
But what was even better was meeting up with the other writers. We had some come great chats over breakfast and dinner, read through some works in progress and even did jigsaw puzzles when the excitement got too much.
One thing I learned during the course of the week was how much publishing has changed since I started writing. There are far more ways into print. For example, I met writers taking a thoroughly professional approach to self publishing, hiring editors and designers to impressive effect. There are far more tools available to help writers thanks to computers and the internet. The field is also much wider than it used to be, with many more genres and subgenres. Far more diverse audiences can be reached.
But I don’t think getting published is any easier. Far from it. The market might be bigger, but it sounds like an empty, echoing place for someone just starting out.
My first sales were over thirty years ago: jokes and articles to magazines such as Private Eye and short romances to women’s magazines. As I’ve written elsewhere (many, many times), writing romances is a great way to learn your craft.
From there I made it into Interzone and other SFF publications, which encouraged me to write my first novel. Along the way I received many rejections and a lot of very good advice. I still maintain the importance of writers submitting work and learning from their rejections, however I am coming to realise how lucky I was to receive so much feedback when I started. There are still editors who offer constructive feedback, of course, and if you find one, value them!
Publishing may have changed but my advice hasn’t. Keep writing and submitting. Count your rejections, and if you get feedback, learn from it. If you’re not getting feedback, join a writers group where you critique each other’s work. If you are getting feedback, join a writers group anyway.
Writing is seen as a solitary occupation. That only goes for the part where you put down words on the page. I met some inspiring people on my writers retreat, and I was reminded that, as with everything else in life, you can’t do it on your own.
Tony Ballantyne 