I’ve been seriously writing for nearly five years now. Out of all these five years, I’ve written two complete novels, one incomplete novel, nine short stories, sixty-one poems and numerous newspaper and magazine articles. However, it has always been difficult to get my writings published. Here I will not blame rejection by editors. I will blame my own fear of taking my writings to editors. I always feared rejection, thinking ‘what if they don’t like my writing?’
The first time I took my writing to a publisher was in 2005 in Johannesburg. The 80 000 words novel, which I started writing in 1999 at Tirelo Sechaba was a treasure to me. After taking it to the publishers for publication consideration, my fear came again – what if? What if? What if? The following day, I rushed to the editor’s office and pretended that I needed to fix something in the manuscript. I took it and never went back to them again.
Years went by and I so badly wanted to conquer this fear. There were even times when I considered vanity publishers (of course I did not know they were vanity publishers). The problem is that they wanted a lot of money to publish my book and I was still a university student then. The only money I had was my monthly stipend which was enough for my basic survival in South Africa. The very first time my writing was published was in a Johannesburg based newspaper called Sunday World in 2003. They published one of my first poems, ‘Raindrops’. But a lot of excitement and joy came after an arts journal called Art Throb published my article in mid 2005. It was a review of an art exhibition. Even today when I look at that article, I can’t help but smile. It was a ray of light that proved to me that there is a writer in me. Actually, that was the article that made me keep on writing and not turn back. Here is the link to that groundbreaking article:
http://www.artthrob.co.za/05july/reviews/jag.html
Then I completed my studies and came back home to work. Suddenly , an idea struck me and I thought of forming a poetry collective. That was when I founded the now popular Poetavango Spoken Word Poetry in Maun, Botswana. With the poetry collective, I wrote more and more poetry. But the void for prose, especially fiction, remained unfilled. I stumbled upon an institution that offers a creative writing course. So I enrolled in an online writing course – A comprehensive writing course with The Writers’ Bureau (England). That was when I began to gain some strength and determination. I learnt that rejection was part of the writing process. I learnt that if great writers like Sidney Sheldon, Stephen King and Eric Lustbader had gone through multiple rejections before they could make it through, who am I to have a smooth-sailing writing career. Richard Bach once said, ‘A Professional writer is an amateur who didn’t quit.’ I was determined never to quit. I also learnt a lesson from the great Nelson Rolihlahla Mandela when he said, 'I learned that courage was not the absence of fear, but the triumph over it. The brave man is not he who does not feel afraid, but he who conquers fear.' My fear was slowly fading away.
Like Ernest Hemingway, I always try simply to write the best I can. Sometimes I get lucky and write better than I can. I grasped onto the thistle and plunged myself in the world of writers. I read a lot and wrote a lot. My articles got published in local newspapers. When I first saw my name as a by-line in a local newspaper article, I was so overjoyed I could not sleep that night. This was 2009. My articles became regular in The Botswana Guardian and Midweek Sun. This was all non-fiction and it was a great challenge. My themes varied and so I would write about this today, tomorrow I write about something completely different. It depended on the inspiration or, mostly, what the editors needed at that particular time. For example, I’m not much of a gardener but one of my articles about flowers was published by a South African gardening magazine called SA Garden (September 2009).
Since my first novel was never published, I put it aside and started another one. While I was still working on the first chapters of my second novel, which I named ‘Hallowed Be My Name,’ a local publisher approached me, seeking a novel for junior school students. I had nothing to lose. I worked even harder on my new novel (as though it was a commission) tapering it more to the targeted market. It ended as a 40 000 words manuscript, half the length of ‘Jose,’ my cherished first novel. ‘Hallowed Be My Name’ was taken through three proof readers hired by the publisher. They all gave it a thumps up! Their praises of my writing made tears form in my eyes. It was instantly accepted, given a barcode and three copies published. Unfortunately, my publisher is an educational publisher and they rely only on the government to call up for submissions. After submissions from a dozen other publishers, these books, including mine, will compete against each other and at the end; only one will be prescribed and bought by the Ministry of Education. That is when the book can now be published. Sadly, my book didn’t make it through. Yet another rejection. This time my spirit was never dented and neither was my flywheel of determination slowed down – not even a bit. In truth, it began to run faster. I put the book aside and hoped that one day, someone will publish it. This leaves me with two novels in my shelves. One half-published and the other a run-away from the editor’s desk. Two novels that I believe are very good and deserve to be read by the masses. See blurbs on preceding posts.
I started taking part in literary competitions in the beginning of 2010. The first competition I entered was the annual Bessie Head Literature Awards competition. I submitted a short story titled ‘The Moon Has Eyes.’ I had worked very hard on it, spent sleepless nights and sent it to three different people for proof reading, including my very supportive brother, Motlhapisa Seganabeng. Three months later, when the chairperson of the Bessie Head Foundation called me and told me that my story has won the competition, it did not come as a surprise. But it was, I must admit, a shock for I was so used to rejections. I remember I was at the post office, about to send my sister P200. I doubled the money. This meant that I was finally going to get my fiction story published! I did not care much about the cash prize. It was the publishing deal that sent vibrations of pleasure within my whole self. I hugged and kissed myself.
Writer Lauri Kubuitsile interviewed me in her column 'It's All Write' in the Voice Newspaper. Here is the link:
http://www.thevoicebw.com/2010/06/25/meet-the-2010-bessie-head-literature-award-winners-legodile-seganabeng/
I didn’t stop writing. I could’t stop writing. Why would I do so? I was only at the beginning of my career. Heavens were opening up for me. I entered yet another competition, The Golden Baobab children stories competition for African writers. I had never written children stories before but I gave it a try. I didn’t do well and I’m entering again this year. Since I’m barred from entering the same category that I won in the Bessie Head competitions, I now entered on the poetry category. I am going to win!
I’m rewriting ‘Jose,’ my first novel. If someone doesn’t promise to publish it sometime soon, I will submit for the Bessie Head next year. I also need to finish ‘Unfair Justice’ – the novel that was never finished. I’m still not inspired but I guess it’s because I currently have too much in my hands.
So, in a few months, an anthology of shorts stories which will perhaps be titled ‘The Moon Has Eyes and Other Stories’ will soon hit the shelves. I’m already imagining myself at the launch of the book. This gives me more strength to continue writing. If only my mother could read, I was going to pack this one off as a present to her.
