Learning To Be A Writer

It means, well, writing, writing and sometimes taking ‘no’ as an answer

- Susan Lagsdin

Lorna Rose-Hahn, Wenatchee writer, frames a publisher’s turn-down in the most positive of terms: “Handling rejection, getting familiar with it and making it work for you, takes some maturity and experience,” she said. “You have to be able to harness a certain energy from it to better your craft.”

Her maturity (she’s 42) is a given; her experience has yielded her, in addition to exposure in many blogs and literary journals, recent recognition in two prestigious competitions. She was a 2017 finalist in the Pacific Northwest Writers Association memoir competition and won a fall 2019 Honorable Mention from the Oregon Poets Association.

Unlike some writers who may labor for years before making their first foray into the world of rejection — and yes — acceptance, Lorna hit the ground running when she decided just five years ago that if she was going to call herself a writer, she would have to get published.

That meant learning industry trends and standards, creating the necessary on-line platform on Facebook, Twitter and her website (writing as her pre-married name Lorna Rose) and submitting dozens of manuscripts in as many formats to even more small publications and contests.