Click here to read Issue 3 of Write On! Magazine. This was published online in April 2014.
I have never worked on a magazine before that didn’t have any trouble filling its pages. Here we are with issue 3 of Write On! and the talent from young West Midlands writers keeps pouring in. That’s great because of course, like any other magazine, the aim of myself as editor and all our writers is to create something absorbing for you to read.
But we do also have a mission to show our young writers what magazine work is really like and this third issue has made me especially proud because they’ve learnt it. There are writers in this issue who now know more about the business than professionals I’ve worked with or commissioned before.
You’ll see many new names in this issue and everybody’s earned their spot here, but you may also notice some returning writers. There are writers who have had the discipline to submit for every deadline of every issue and who have done so with writing so strong they easily got in each time. When they’re writing professionally, and I believe they will, being able to point to quality and to a track record will help them tremendously.
What I can also see now that we’re three issues in is how our region’s writers handle rejection. You have to get used to this, it’s part of the job and the only difference with Write On! is that I am allotted time to explain why I am refusing a piece.
One unexpected benefit of being given that time, though, is that I have been able to work with some of the writers. If a piece is rejected then it’s rejected, that’s that. But sometimes there are reasons for rejecting a piece now that the writer can fix for the next issue. Here we are with the next issue and several writers have resubmitted their reworked pieces.
Some did exactly what I asked and the pieces work so of course I like that. Others ignored me completely, did a totally different rewrite, and improved their pieces in ways I just did not imagine. I love that even more.
It takes a certain bravery for a writer to say no, that’s wrong, this is the way my piece should go. To do that, to keep their piece their way, to keep their voice clear and strong, yet to also hit deadlines and address what their editor asks them, that’s professional writing.
I’m proud of them.
William Gallagher – Write On! Magazine Editor
Write On! Magazine is part of our Midlands Young Writers Programme, an initiative jointly managed by Writing West Midlands and Writing East Midlands and generously funded by the Paul Hamlyn Foundation.
