glen

My poem "Swallow", as suggested by Storyteller21 was featured by thorns for a Daily Deviation. I couldn't be more grateful to the two of them and I encourage anyone reading to go check out their work.

As far as all the comments go, they've been overwhelmingly positive and it's been a great inspiration. I promise I'll get to responding to them all but it will take some time. Again, I thank you.  

Literally just last night I very much considered giving up on writing entirely. I know that others have had a horrible time this year and I would just like you to know that I'm right there with you. With any spare chance I've had I have pursued publishing any which way possible. I have written letters and e-mails to hundreds of publishers of reviews and journals and college zines all over the United States and Great Britain. I've met with less success than I would've liked and it was difficult then, as everyone  knows, to face rejection, but this week it all came to a head when I received a very insulting, scathing reply from an author I greatly respected. It's hard taking criticism from someone you admire but when they actively attack your work... well, that's a whole different kind of experience. Yesterday I found myself sitting in my car, half intoxicated, and very upset. Only because it seemed like every stride I tried to take was blocked and that I would never be read by any more than a handful of people. I tried to write a journal entry from my phone to say that I was done and had given up and that there would be no more work. Luckily my phone couldn't get a signal. I mean, I threw it at the wall, but if it had worked I would not have logged in today and seen the 500+ messages on my page. I was floored and I feel very blessed. Thank you.

This Daily Deviation could not have come at a more perfect time, but the honor would mean nothing without the people who took the time to let some random artist know that it inspired or moved them, or hell, if they even just thought it was well-worded. Even, honestly, if it was something as simple as reading it and nothing more, that's enough. Thank you very, very much. I will continue to write and hopefully I'll intrigue some of you enough to continue reading.

Sincerely,

Zak

We all would like recognition right?

I'm working on it.

It was my tenth anniversary on DeviantART the other day. Which means I've been here for just over a decade. Initially I started out just doing whatever - and then I found my calling in writing and continued to hone that until present day. So, if you look hard enough, you can find rather embarrassing early work in my gallery. This includes drawings, graphic art, and really angsty, teen writing.

I also remember what it was like to create groups before this new system where the pages were designed specifically for group use. I'm proud to say that throughout my decade on dA, I've successfully helped several unknown artists become known and even inspired daily deviations to accept personal submissions. So, even though I haven't become well-known myself, I definitely love the site and the artists within it. Here's to another decade!

I really am the type of guy to need self-affirmation about whether or not I'm good enough at writing to be considered a talent. So, I've been looking for publishers. I've reviewed about 100 online/printed journals, websites, newsletters and weekly/biweekly/monthly zines. I've been able to submit to about half of them because of differences in subject matter/submission guidelines and I'm hoping to hear back soon.

Between now and then though, once again, I'd just like to thank you all for giving me feedback, selecting works of mine for your favorites, inviting me to your groups and asking permission to display my work in your galleries. It means the world to me.


-Zak

I'd like to thank everyone that has visited my gallery, posted a comment or critique and who has added my work to a collection of favorites. It means a great deal to me and without occasional validation I feel like I'm just spinning in circles and begin to question whether or not I have any talent for this sort of thing.

ALSO - I'd like to give my apologies to those that have submitted work to #Support-for-all. I joined this group quite awhile back when I came out of my hibernation and, for some reason, during the time I disappeared again, someone made me a moderator. Ergo everything that was submitted was not approved and put into the group galleries because I was not around to approve them. I've received some mail about it and I'm sorry. A group should not be run that way, even if I was completely unaware that I was partly running it, and it's a shame that everything turned out the way it did. Currently I went through a bit of a backlog with the ones that weren't expired but please feel free to resubmit if you don't see your work in the galleries.

Thank you all again!

-Zak