2018: My Year of Success

By Anne Alexander, Writer and Writespace Member

Thank you, Writespace!
 
Every December I make a special date with myself: just me, my journal, and coffee, so I can think about the upcoming year and what I’d like to accomplish. Last year, my mind kept going to just one thing: my writing. It was feeling kind of stale, and I was eager to tackle something new. It wasn’t long before I discovered Writespace, and I knew I’d found something special. This is it, I thought.

I purchased a Writespace membership for myself that day, and signed up for Mark Dostert’s workshop, Introduction to Personal Essay and Memoir. Mark is a superb instructor and guide. Twelve writers of vastly differing levels of experience were there, yet he tailored the experience in ways that benefited all of us. I’ve collected countless books about the craft of writing, but by the end of the workshop, I had learned more than I had in all of those books combined. I had a writing M.O. I used for years… but in this class I learned fresh concepts about how to approach the idea behind the personal essay in ways I had never considered. After the last session, I jotted down a goal in my notebook: “ will get an acceptance from a literary journal by the end of 2018.

On September 7 of this year, I reached that goal. I have part of the acceptance email from the editor of Burningword Literary Journal etched in my mind: “We love it and would like to publish it in the next quarterly issue.” 

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I’ve had many publishing credits since I was 18 years old, but I’ve never felt quite the sense of accomplishment that I did that day.

The print edition landed in my mailbox recently – I keep it on my desk so I can feel the warm glow of validation and pride whenever I need it, and to give me the courage to continue sending my writing out into the world. Persistence pays, and an acceptance from another publication popped into my inbox on September 21. 

There’s not a doubt in my mind I met my 2018 goal because of what I learned from Mark Dostert and from Writespace, and it gives me the confidence to keep learning, to keep writing, and to keep hitting that “submit” button.

Check out Anne's publications, as well as other Writespace member successes, on our Success Story page!