I’m teaching an advanced non-fiction class at UCLA Extension starting next week – the first time I’ve taught an intensive four hour workshop with only twelve students who have to submit their writing to qualify for admission.

Here’s what I’ve already learned: I wanted to get excited about the writing samples that were submitted. I suddenly felt like an editor and realized this is what it must be like to sit on the other side of the desk.  Not only was I looking for wonderful writing, I was looking for the one sentence, the line, the idea that could hook me – make me want to read more, find out what happens next. In the end I chose twelve writers who simply made me want to hear more of their story. 

Some of the writing that I didn’t choose was still in the therapy, what-does-it-all-mean stage.  A stage that most of us have to go through, and one that I deal with in my other courses, but this workshop I see more as a take-no-prisoners, your-writing-is- your-life for the next six weeks.

And what does this mean for you? If you want to publish your writing think about that editor who’s sifting through hundreds, if not thousands, of manuscripts, wanting to be amazed, startled, intrigued.  He or she isn’t looking for a polished, perfect manuscript but something full of life, a fresh idea, a voice struggling to tell the truth.  Think of writing a letter to an editor at a magazine or a publishing house and as an exercise, describe the work you want to submit in one short paragraph.  This is one of the hardest paragraphs you’ll ever write. Cut out all chattiness, don’t be cute, be serious but not dull, honest but not gazing at your belly button. What can you come up with that describes your book/essay and makes somebody want to read the whole thing?

I’m dealing with something similar right now in my own work, filling out New World Library’s author questionnaire for Courage & Craft (my book that they’re publishing in the fall.)  “What do you feel are the most prominent features of your book? What is the hook that makes it unique?” followed by: “What are the three most important things about your book?” and “If you could only say one thing to a reviewer about your book, what would it be?”  (I went temporarily brain dead over this one.)  It’s so easy to get lost in our own writing, not seeing the forest for the trees. Of course you need to do that, but if you want to get published at some point you need to come out of the trees and take a long, hard look at that forest.