Joanna Campbell Slann

This evening I attended a St. Louis Writer's Guild event; the guest speaker's series was held at Barnes and Noble, Ladue. The featured author, Joanna Campbell Slann, a dynamic motivational speaker, shared her success story as well as the struggles of becoming a published author. She was a wealth of information. The thing she said that resonated with me was, to paraphrase, "If you talk about writing or whine about writing, then move out of my way, because I will step right in and do the writing." That's really the key. You can't get published if you don't write. Being a writer requires discipline and commitment; it is hard work and it requires an ivestment of time and effort. You have to find a balance, know when to take a rest, a respite, but you can't be a slacker and call yourself a writer if all you do is talk about writing or let a rejection stop you in your tracks.

Joanna has written numerous books and coincidentally, she and I have been published in some of the same Chicken Soup for the Soul Books. One of these days I will have my name plastered across the front cover of a book, and not just to promote an anthology. If you have talent and determination and faith in yourself, just think, our books could possibly be spooning in bookstores nationwide someday. Write on.