And so, I kept on writing and writing all through school, in all my spare time, despite the fact that I was still pretty lousy at it. But slowly, because of the strength of my desire, I improved. By the end of high school , I put my first novel on hold, and wrote my first short story. I submitted it to different fantasy and SF magazines. It was of course rejected everywhere.
Every rejection slip is always a stab in the heart.
But you take a big breath, and throw it off, and go on. Just like that. And I went on. I subscribed to Writer's Digest and learned all I could about professional writing. However, Marion was kind enough to write personalized comments all over the manuscript, and she was right in all instances.