June | 2010 | Cathy C. Hall Writes

While doing a little blog-keeping, I checked the link to The Enchanted Conversation, the one to my poem, “The Problem With Fairy Tales.” I was completely stunned when I saw that the poem had 34 comments!

I remembered that quite a few writer buddies had stopped by EC to leave their thoughts behind, but who the heck were all these other people leaving comments? Honestly, I thought it must be some glitch in the system, like when a person leaves a comment and it gets stuck in some kind of loop.

But, no. I started reading the comments-and they were from different people, strangers to me and not loopy at all. In fact, these were long and thoughtful comments that touched my writer’s soul.

Because here’s the thing. Writers pour themselves, heart and soul, into their writing. Then they hope, somewhere, someone (preferably an editor) will read their words and say, “This is good stuff! I want to publish this writer’s thoughts so that others can enjoy the good stuff!” And oh, happy days, we have affirmation!

So then your words are floating around out there, in a book, or a magazine, or a newspaper, and you are left to wonder if you made someone smile, or nod in agreement, or choke back a tear, or shout to the heavens that you’re a hack who doesn’t know what she’s talking about. In other words, you dream that what you have written has touched someone, in some way or the other. But often, you never know.

Unless you happen to check a link where over 30 comments sit, waiting for you. And then it absolutely, positively makes your day. Here’s wishing that someone makes a writer’s day today. (And share if you like-I love stories with happy endings!)

Have you seen that email circulating about Joshua Bell and the subway experiment? The one conducted a few years back by the Washington Post?

It’s a true story, that in a nutshell, goes something like this: Joshua Bell, acclaimed violinist, played six intricate Bach pieces, lasting about 45 minutes, in the subway. He wasn’t dressed in tails; in fact, he wore street clothes and a stocking cap on his head. About 7 or 8 people stopped for a moment to listen; he earned about 40 bucks from the approximate 2,000 people rushing by. The night before, Joshua Bell had played in a sold out venue where tickets went for $100.

The social experiment asked if people would recognize talent in an unexpected context, and I suppose the answer to that was pretty obvious. The Washington Post piece won a Pulitzer award for its in-depth look at the arts and perspective. Fascinating reporting, but the whole story made me think of writing.

It’s a fact that more than the occasional big-name author hasn’t exactly found the direct route to publication. Sometimes, the big-name author masterpeice lingered in the slushpile, unrecognized for its worth, because an editor overlooked it. Perhaps because editors don’t really expect to find a lot of talent in that context.

Of course, happily, writers sometimes get lucky, and talent wins out, even in a slushpile. Sometimes, talent gets plucked out of a conference meet-up, or shines through in a mega-contest. But it seems to me that the odds of finding talent in the occasional, happenstance hook-up, are diminishing. I’ve reached the conclusion that context is integral in getting published. Mostly, I’ve concluded that an agent is necessary. An agent provides a better context to get your talent out there.

I could keep going the slushpile subway route, or hoping for serendipity to give me a shout-out, but I’d like to earn more than 40 bucks for all my hard work and hard-earned talent. So I’m leaving the station (and taking Joshua Bell and lots of agent research with me).