Why am I trying to get published?

[rhetoretician]

 The other day, my old college friend John asked me why I didn't just go the "self-publication" route -- by which he meant, put them up on your web site and let anyone read them who wants to. My initial response was that I like the idea of the validation that would come from an editor saying, "Yes, we want this." But I realized that that answer

Comments

[rosalinanarnen]

• I agree there is something about having an editor say "We want this" that sounds like validation and recognition. My second though thought is that an editor is just a person with an opinion. That opinion can be more or less educated but at the end of the day it's just one opinion.
Besides personally I have a sort of mistrust of "educated" opinions of literature(not that what I write can be called literature) in particular and art in general. I think I would prefer a rant full of exclamation marks as comment on a fan fiction site or a semiprozine to a review of a published work in "serious" magazine or newspaper by people who presume to be critiques .
And yet I have a fantasy (that would not let go of me) of seeing a book by me in a bookstore window. It's the magic of the hard cover! (The book I imagine is always in hard cover for some reason :) The act of getting published, I think, does not make you a good or a bad writer but it shows that the world recognized you as a writer. Well, it seems I have returned to recognition after all. And while recognition isn't everything by far... there is something so seductive about having the world admit what you have always known and say "yes you are a writer".

[rhetoretician]

Thank you for that thoughtful response.

I agree with you mostly. I don't get much out of the exclamation marks on fan sites; I do like the more thoughtful comments that appear there, which tells me that, to the extent I hunger for praise, it's praise from people I can respect. My friends on LJ and elsewhere are thoughtful people like yourself, and their words of encouragement are like swimming in clear, cold water on a scorching hot day. I like the idea of being validated by an editor (at least the editor of a magazine I respect) for the same reason.

I can't remember whether we've met before. If not, welcome! I gather from your icon that you're a Tonks fan? I also see that you're from Ukraine (although that's pretty much all I can read of your profile). My paternal grandfather was born in Rovno.

[rosalinanarnen]

We have met. I left a comment for one of your stories. I am an HP fan(obviously and Tonks is one of my favorites).
Now to the point. Of coarse everyone likes thoughtful reviews. A friend of mine says that finding a reader who will really appreciate what you have to say is a rare and valuable gift to a writer.They are readers that make it all worthwhile. You touch them and their insight helps you grow as a writer.
But personally I also get a big kick out of seeing that my writing creates an emotional response in people (hence the exclamation marks) and always am really grateful when I come across people that can articulate what sort of response it was. Luckily thoughtful and emotional response are not mutually exclusive things.
Thanks to you for a chance to think about writing, since for a while I've been altogether too focused on other things.
*walks off to make an English version of her profile*