Lucky Platform: Writing My First Novel
Contributor
Written by
Melinda Palacio
August 2011
Contributor
Written by
Melinda Palacio
August 2011

I’ve spent the last five years waiting for my novel, Ocotillo Dreams, to be published. My first task was to finish the book, something I accomplished after completing the PEN Center USA Emerging Voices Fellowship.  In 2007, I entered the program with two creative writing publications: one poem and one short story, accepted for the anthology: Latinos in Lotusland: An Anthology of Contemporary Southern California Literature. The fellowship came with writing classes, working with a mentor, the support of six writers, and author evenings to show us the ropes. Some of the author events were pretty grim as established writers leaned heavily on the word Luck. I kept reminding myself that luck may not grace me and that I should keep my focus on writing and publishing. When I felt confident about sending out my manuscript, the fifth publisher I sent it to, Bilingual Press, housed at Arizona State University, accepted my novel for publication in 2009.

 

The years of waiting in the wings went by quickly and before I knew it, I had dozens of poems and stories published. I wasn’t afraid to read my work at open mics and events sponsored by the journals that published my work. I treasured every opportunity to read. However, nothing beat listening to other writers read their work. There were times when I was frustrated, when I thought my writing wasn’t worthy of attention, yet alone publication. Every week my mailbox was cluttered with rejection slips, letters, and rejection emails. I would reach low points in my writing career, only to be given small glimpses of validation and the will to succeed. When I started to lose hope of success, I received small miracles of acceptance. Sometimes the miracles came after a reading, when an audience member would take me aside and ask for my book. Sometimes the miracles were simply acceptance letters. And sometimes, those acceptance letters came with a check or cash for my writing. I might admit that luck played a role in my being the first person in my PEN EV Fellowship cohort to publish a book.

 

Subsequently, did luck play a role in my winning a scholarship to the Squaw Valley Community of Writers Poetry Week in 2008? Did luck play a role when I won the 2009 Kulupi Press’ Sense of Place competition? Did luck play a role when Bilingual Press accepted my novel, Ocotillo Dreams, for publication? Did luck play a role when I held an author copy of my book in my hands?

 

Most likely, luck played a small role. However, so did hard work. I wrote poetry, fiction, and non-fiction. I rewrote my novel while working on unrelated short stories, poetry, and news articles and columns. I took writing classes, attending workshops, talks, and read novels, read books about reading and writing, read newspapers and journals, read. I told anyone who would listen about my writing, about my novel, about my poetry. I started maintaining a website and blog in January 2006 after my first poem was published. I told myself I wasn’t going to write about the trials of not getting published. I was going to celebrate the opportunities I received as a writer who hadn’t yet published a book. Although I didn’t know the name for it, I was building my platform by taking myself seriously as a writer and by working on my craft.


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