I may be one of the only people who actually reads the “Editor’s Note” at the beginning of Poets & Writers magazine. I am probably the only one who highlights selected passages.
The most recent issue had a great message for the new year, from editor Kevin Larimer:
No writer worth her salt needs to be reminded that underneath every successful piece of writing there is a veritable mountain of “failure” upon which it stands. The writer knows — oh, how well she knows. After all, by what other means has her poem, story, essay, or chapter arrived on the page than by fits and starts, additions and subtraction, revision and rewriting?
The point is this: The act of creating something meaningful is rarely easy. Rather than get discouraged, consider each derelict passage — the mishandled metaphor, the broken logic — as another step further along in the hard slog toward a good, solid piece of writing.
I think as writers we should allow ourselves to be proud a little more often. So here’s to it: May your new year be not perfect, not easy, but full of inspired work you can be proud of.
Amen, dude. As a hardcore perfectionist with a tendency toward brutal self-criticism and complete lack of patience for “mistakes,” I needed to read this.
Happy New Year!
As an editor myself, I always read the editor’s letter of any magazine (if only because I have to write two dozen of the damn things a year.) I hate the template “in this issue, we bring you…” Lame.
Letters like the one above are another reason that I always at least skim the editor’s letter of magazines. I get inspired by the authenticity and message. Love.
I was just wondering if I was odd because I always read the acknowledgements in books. Happy New Year and happy writing!
Not odd at all! I read them all the time. I feel like they can say so much about the writer.