Being a writer
Being a writerBefore I was a cartoonist, I wrote jokes, and short stories, and kids books. It never occurred to me that anyone would want to do anything else to make a living.
Who was I fooling?! You can rarely make a living! Penniless artist, indeed… And then, there’s the rejection(s) to deal with. Freelance writers, amIright?
About rejection letters
If you haven’t been reading your Kindle recently, you might have forgotten the classic way to end a book, or at least a children’s story: They all lived happily ever after.
And if you’re not a writer, you would be surprised at how many editors at publishers, newspapers and magazines still want hardcopy submissions, and reply the same way.
As a cartoonist, I understand this. It’s hard to sift through a variety of images on the screen. They’re easy to view individually, but sorting and choosing them, especially if they go to other editors for input, is much harder than it should be. And pdfs? Forget it! When editing or considering a number of images, digital is disappointing. (And some editors don’t even open their email!)
So sometimes a writer or image-maker still gets a rejection letter hardcopy.
Good thing I have a birdcage that needs a supply of paper.
ID # f353hh Caption: Woman opens letter from an editor: Dear Writer, You won’t live happily ever after, because this is a rejection letter. Sincerely, The Editors.
Speaking of online, my most recent cartoons ACCEPTED by publishers, up this week, include one way to see if he’s cheating on you, and one concerning underwear – it’s tasteful and also different. 🙂
And speaking of editors, I have a new resource at the top of the blog called Find Editors. It’s SO hard to find the right editor to talk with at a newspaper, and each paper calls the contact page something different: staff, contributors, about, you name it. And sometimes they bury it. So for my own future benefit, as well as freelance writers, I’m compiling a list of news Staff pages as I come across them. Good luck!
Set painter in studio Art Depts. Member Scriptwriters Network, script analyst.
Author, 2 hardcopy books, Barnes & Noble Calendar.
- Emma in the Night ~ Wendy Walker ~ Thriller - May 11, 2023
- Still Alice (2014) ~ Psychology Movie Review ~ Julianne Moore - January 25, 2023
- The Other Emily ~ Dean Koontz - January 23, 2023
I’ve been writing for twenty years with little success and I love the cartoon and the caption. You’ve just got a new fan; by the way I got your post link through linkedin. It was the one on ‘wiring’ the man. Speaking as a man I’d say you’re spot on, really, sad but true, men can’t be totally trusted, but that’s just the ‘pirate’in us.May I ask if it’s okay to share your posts on facebook, I have a lot of friends who’ll love them. It’s great work and your captions are perfect and that’s hard to achieve. Well done on having work accepted.I wish you every success.
Thanks so much, Richard! I really appreciate this, and your comment will go right into my Compliment Corner file.
I’m actually updating code to allow thumbnails to show more easily in Facebook, so that should be good to go in a couple of days.
And I’m not sure it’s just men who ‘can’t be trusted”! Both genders make blunders, but I have known paranoid people, as well. 🙂