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Tuesday, August 23, 2011

Inspired by Words: Tahereh Mafi on Getting Published

If you are a writer, you NEED to read this blog post by Tahereh Mafi, a 23 year old writer who's debut novel, Shatter Me, will be published on November 15th of this year. It's all about rejection and hitting it big.  Oh my gosh, the way she uses words- it's no wonder she has a trilogy on the way.
Here's a sample from the post:
 
"we need 26 letters to change the world.

so we write. we write every day, we fight every day, we think and scheme and dream a little dream every day. manuscripts pile up in the kitchen sink, run-on sentences dangle around our necks. we plant purple prose in our gardens and snip the adverbs only to thread them in our hair. we write with no guarantees, no certainties, no promises of what might come and we do it anyway."
 
I nearly got goosebumps reading her prose. And this is only a glimpse.
 
This gives me hope, that little spark of light before the wick burns down and vanishes.
 
People say you need to write 72 drafts before you'll get it published.
They say your first novel should go on a shelf, as most never make it into print.
 
This is basically a letter that says screw rejection and count on yourself. Your persistance. Your hard work. Your greatest fantasy.

You can be a writer. Here's proof.


1 comment:

kathy said...

That's a cool post. :) I've heard so many good thins about Shatter Me. I didn't realize she was only 23. That's really awesome.