Wednesday, August 3, 2016

IWSG POST - My First Piece of Writing

It’s the eight IWSG (Insecure Writers Support Group) post of 2016. Whoosh! That’s more than half the year that’s flown past us. IWSG is a online writer’s group started by Ninja Captain Alex J Cavanaugh (author of the Amazon Bestsellers: CassaStar, CassaStorm, CassaFire and Dragon of the Stars).

IWSG members post on the first Wednesday of every month. In our posts we share our writing insecurities, anxieties, worries, clear our doubts and learn from other writers who are at different stages of their publishing journey. There is a wealth of information on the IWSG website.

A couple of months back Super A (my secret nickname for Alex) announced that every IWSG post will have a question which members can either answer in their post or can even make it the topic of their post (I’m sure Alex can read minds, he must have seen our blank minds trying to come up with a topic for IWSG every month, no wonder he came to our rescue by giving us ready-made topics for the month.)

AUGUST 03rd QUESTION: What was your very first piece of writing as an aspiring writer? Where is it now? Collecting dust or has it been published?

My first piece of writing was, a long time back, in my first year of college. I was sixteen. I had written a short story (around 1500 words) about a rabbit. I don’t remember the story but I clearly remember sending it to the children’s supplement of a local newspaper. After a couple of weeks when the story didn’t appear in the paper, I marched to the newspaper’s office and called the editor from the phone in the reception.

She said that as I had written it in long-hand, on foolscap sheets, she would need to get it typed before she could publish it and that was the reason for the delay. I asked her if she could give it back to me so that I could get it typed. She was surprised but agreed to post it back to me.

I don’t remember what I did with that copy. Somehow it disappeared from my files. I think I must have lost it when I got busy with my first-term exams. I laugh when I recollect my stupidity. Just imagine, foolish little me asking the editor for the story back, when she was eager to ask her assistant to type it for her!





27 comments:

  1. Awesome story, though. It was a sign of things to come--publishers wanting to publish your work, that is.

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  2. Very interesting Rachna! Hope we will keep reading you in long time to come

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  3. That's funny. You had guts.
    And I give Chrys Fey all the credit for coming up with the monthly question. It was a great idea.

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  4. Oh, that's funny!

    And I can't believe the year is more than half over already....

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  5. Hi, Rachna,

    You were quite determined.... And that wonderful determination led you to the road of publishing success! Good for you!

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  6. I think when we first begin we'll do almost anything to get published and even miss the obvious in our enthusiasm. This is a fun story, Rachna. Most of us will remember doing something similar.

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  7. Oh man! Opportunities lost, eh? I wonder what you'd think of the piece if you could find it today?

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  8. That's awesome!!! To have the courage and the determination - awesome! :)

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  9. What a reminder of how quirky the path to success is. I applaud your 16-year-old risk-taker!

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  10. We can all think back to the stupidity of our teenage years. But at least the episode showed that you had the determination and stubbornness to succeed.

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  11. I think it's so funny that you got it back to type it but that you didn't and didn't send it back. lol But passing exams is definitely more important.

    I'm glad you like the IWSG questions. :)

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  12. interesting post...thx for sharing! xx

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  13. I never think of innocence as stupid. How were you to know? :-)

    Anna from elements of emaginette

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  14. What a cute story! I bet that mistaken would never happen again. :)

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  15. I love your honesty. I love your courage too. :)

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  16. That's an awesome story! I was first published in a newspaper too! I also don't know where any copies of the story are now. It was a one-page section they published with Jr. High students' writing. I was thirteen at the time. The heading actually said that it was poetry from the local students, but my tiny flash fic was there alongside maybe six or seven poems.

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  17. But the main thing is that your story was published and you stood up for your story because that was your baby. So I don't see what you did as stupidity at all. I see it as courageous.
    All the best.
    Shalom aleichem,
    Patricia

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  18. How wonderful! Great inspiration. And I'm glad Captain Alex came to our rescue too. It's hard to think of a topic each month!

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  19. What a great story. You had guts. I'll bet you still do. Best wishes.

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  20. You were lucky to learn the lesson early, before a lucrative contract presented itself. You won't misplace that!

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  21. You were lucky to learn the lesson early, before a lucrative contract presented itself. You won't misplace that!

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  22. I wouldn't call it stupidity.
    You were only sixteen years old.
    I'd call it guts and determination...and you haven't lost it!

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  23. It sounds like a good memory:) I can't specifically remember when I first wrote, but it must have been when I was pretty young.

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  24. How funny! I can imagine the woman's face when you asked for the story back. :D

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  25. Oh no. So you missed out on it by asking for it back?

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  26. That's cool! My first piece of writing I did sometime when I was ten, which was a partially complete illustrated novel. It's in a drawer somewhere. XD

    storitorigrace.blogspot.com

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  27. I remember my early writing days. I would call agents' offices and send a full manuscript, unsolicited, to publishers. So many of us started young. :)

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