Amazing I Have Just Been Offered £50.00 For My Effort

Good news has just arrived in the post, the pet magazine I sent a submission to has offered me £50.00 to print my article. I am on cloud nine. I know in this day and age that £50.00 is not a fortune, but to me it has given me far more than wealth, it has given me the encouragement to carry on writing.

I joined a creative writers course late last year and was just beginning to wonder if I had wasted  my money. I have found the course to be a real eye opener. I have won many book tokens and other useful gifts over the years, and have received lots of praise and encouragement from my friends and family who continually tell me I have a lovely style of writing, but my course tutor disagreed. You see, as I understand it, I write like I talk, with a broad Lancashire accent, anyone watching Emmerdale and thinking that 'tinternet' is not a valid word, would be totally wrong. Phrases like 'Our Peg' (wife) and 'Upt ginnel' ( alley way) are just normal every day speech from 'Us Lancashire Lasses.', Yorkshire too has it's fair share of oddities.

I have taken some fairly strong criticism from my course tutor, but I have her to thank that I have just potentially earned my first £50.00 from writing. I now stop and think about my words, I can't say that I enjoyed the beginning of the course but as I was paying for it, I persevered and developed a thick skin, and learnt to bite my tongue over the remarks my course tutor made.

I hated researching the endless racks of magazine titles, more so, really didn't like the constant flow of readers letters we had to write for our course work. It has paid off and shame on me for thinking 'what a waste of time'.

My article to the pet magazine was submitted in February. Like many of us I waited and waited for a reply and then giving up hope, resigned myself to indulge again in self pity, and believed my article had been submitted to the bin, without even as much as a 'no thankyou' 

I am now frantically trying to find a nice head and shoulder photograph, and writing a biography to introduce myself to the readership; in such hope that I will be published again in the future. My head is all over the place, maybe I will get replies, or even fan mail or more importantly work commissioned! Wow how great that would be.

My message to anyone who reads my blog is simply, keep going, I have and look at me now. My tutor didn't really rave this pet article either, her comments were 're-edit and then try and I wish you luck'.

Although I have changed my style of writing because of my creative writing course, it is still me inside, just a little posher.

Good luck everybody.