by Jim Bradley

Created on: November 26, 2008

The very first time I achieved writing success you could have tied lead weights to my feet and I still wouldn't have come down from cloud nine!

It was only a short article in a trade journal, and they even edited half of it out, but the fact that those were MY words on that paper and it had MY name next to it, was worth much more to me than the twenty five pounds sterling the article earned me.

Like some fiendish drug addled addict, I was hooked. I needed more. I needed another 'fix' of seeing my name in some publication, no matter how far removed from the mainstream press it was. I wrote readers letters, articles, poems, essays, short stories and even one humorous piece. Out of all that hard work, the humorous one was the only one that made it to the printing press!

Undaunted, I saved the other pieces and re-wrote, edited and re-wrote again - all to no avail, as they remain within my 'pending' file to this day but the bug settled within me quickly and although I may not be signing books in some bookstore or being called upon to open shopping malls and stores, I console myself with the simple thought of.... "someday....!" To that end, I now have several folders with completed writing work that may come in handy sometime and, if not to be published in their entirety then at least to be used as inspiration for a new piece for, as any editorial department will tell you, writing is like panning for gold - you have to sift through a lot of dirt to find those nuggets.

That someday has not, as yet, arrived for me but I consider myself a writer, a freelance writer and I now approach it with a far more professional attitude than I did at first. It has been a learning experience and a steep learning curve but it is one that I would not have missed for the world and which I have enjoyed taking more than any dusty academic course of study.

The competition is fierce, with the internet, eBooks, tapes, CD's, libraries, and the thousands of others out there trying desperately to make their mark and carve their niche in this writing world, yet it is a world in which I am confident that I have, at least, a better than average chance of striking it lucky. It may be a case of simply being in the right place at the right time, it may be that my talent will shine through and bedazzle some editor somewhere, whichever it is, I look forward to that day when I can finally, safely say that this IS my new career for definite!

Meanwhile, I write on, right? What else is there to do.........?

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