*puts on my best Saturday Night Live host voice*

Once again, ladies and gentlemen, Allison Dickson!

Hit Me If You Care

Two years ago, I started taking my little writing hobby seriously, and in those two years, I have weathered dozens of rejections while having the good fortune of selling two short stories. However, I never would have received those publishing credits without the help of very forthcoming first readers. Ian has given his input on a number of my projects, and it was with his honest guidance that I went on to publish my first short story, “Aria,” in a horror anthology. Prior to that, he read some monstrosity of mine about homicidal deer (insert derisive snicker), and gave me a brutal appraisal of the story’s abundant shortcomings. It was the first fictional story I’d written in over a decade, but I thought it was okay. However the comments were like spiked fists to my spongy ego. Cold and discouraged little whispers started wafting through my brain. You’re not cut out for this. Stick with your happy little blog, where it’s safe and where no one will ever hurt your feelings again.

I then realized that like everything else in life, the ability to tell a good story isn’t perfectly innate. I had a lot of learning to do and bad habits to break rather than surround myself with well-meaning friends who couldn’t tell it to me straight because they feared they would "crush my dreams.” If it hadn’t been for the early ass beatings, I would still be trying to peddle “Aria” like it was the literary equivalent of Michael Jackson’s first moonwalk at the Apollo. I would have made a complete fool out of myself while damaging my reputation among editors who would have eventually started rejecting me based on my name alone. If it weren’t for the growth I achieved after staring down my early imperfections and demanding brutal honesty, I wouldn’t have been able to publish my second story, “Vermin,” which features better writing than “Aria” did. And I wouldn’t be working on stories now that I feel are superior to that. The quest for self-improvement never ends.

To me, writing is a lot like boxing. It's harder than it looks, and everyone who tries it starts out making all the wrong moves and tripping over their own feet, but with practice, and a grizzled trainer making sure you keep your chin down and that you’re getting your weight behind your punches, you’ll be fighting winning matches before long. But you have to be vigilant and you have to want it. You have to be ready to take a few hits to the face or gut so you know what it feels like. Getting punched hurts, but if you didn’t know firsthand, then you wouldn’t work hard enough to avoid those swinging fists later on. Like boxing, writing requires a certain amount lust for sweat and pain. Like boxing, working to succeed in this field can take a lot out of you. Like boxing, writing forces you to dig deep and toughen up in ways you never thought you could; it puts calluses on your soul. Like boxing, writing ain’t for people who just want to make friends. Like boxing, writing ain’t for sissies. 

I’m not going to ask you to play nice when I give you one of my stories. I want you to give me your best shot so that when I come back with a counter-punch, it will knock you off your feet. In a good way.

Allison Dickson is the owner of Allison Edits, a professional editing and proofreading service.