Jeanne Sharp
Why did you submit to trash to treasure lit?
As soon as I came across trash to treasure lit, I knew I was part of its target market: the last time I felt confident as a writer was around age nine. I am my own harshest critic, and my submission to trash to treasure lit was a way of challenging the internal monologue that is forever telling me that my work doesn't deserve to be seen/read.
How would you describe your writing practice?
My bio describes it perfectly: I have done everything but write for most of my adult life. At the same time, that's something of a false narrative because I *do* write. My job involves written communication. I also journal, I share slices of my life (complete with written descriptions) on social media, and I blog about being a unilateral cochlear implant recipient. So I am writing -- but my instinct to describe myself as "doing everything but writing" speaks to my impostor syndrome and general lack of consistency in terms of capital-W "Writing."
What is the biggest thing that stops you from submitting work to lit mags/journals/publications?
I think it was a total fear of rejection at first, but it was also my own ignorance of just how many incredible publications exist. The internet has created a wealth of diverse spaces for writers of every stripe and I love seeing what's out there. I'm also working on reframing my fear of having my work rejected -- because if I submit a piece and it's rejected, it doesn't change the fact that I wrote something and submitted it instead of giving up on it and/or hiding it away. The stack of rejections is evidence that I tried something.
Do you think the writing industry has an impact on your confidence in your work (good or bad)? Why?
When I was younger, I dreamed of writing a bestseller. As I got older, though, I realized I had no stomach for the commodification of art. Somewhere along the way, we've gotten it into our heads that writing is less legitimate if we aren't selling a billion copies of something or getting a high per-word rate as freelancers. The more I write, the more I make it my mission to fight that perspective. My work isn't less valuable because I don't get paid for it -- for me, it's about seeing it in the world and producing something that might resonate with others. I write because I have to - I am "contributing a verse" to the powerful play Walt Whitman told us about.
When do you start to doubt a piece that you are working on?
In the spirit of holding myself accountable, sometimes before I even start writing. But when I've actually started a piece, it happens most often when I go back and read what I've written. I notice all my lousy, lazy habits (my writing is where adverbs go to die), and the impostor syndrome kicks in. When that happens, I've learned to put the piece away for a bit. The trick is making myself come back to it later.
Once you trash one of your pieces, what makes you come back to it (if ever)?
I will return to a piece when there's something sparkly in it -- a sentence, a turn of phrase, or even an important idea that shines and stands out from all the garbage I've dumped around it. Those little gems (and believe me, most of the time they're tiny) pull me back and inspire me to turn the rest of the piece into something worthy of them.
How many pieces do think you have currently in your 'abandoned' folder?
30-50
What is the ultimate reason that you trash your work?
The (often mistaken) belief that it's unworthy.
Is there anything that would stop you from trashing your work? (More education in writing, more publications/less rejections, a change in the industry, etc)
I've been gaming my tendency to reject my own work by balancing my submissions between outlets that are more likely to accept them and those with a higher potential for rejection. It's also forcing me to write more because I don't want to submit the same piece to a bunch of different publications. I've realized that a temporary trashing of my work is an essential part of my creative process, though, so I don't think I'll ever stop doing it altogether -- but I will get better at returning to it and mining it for the sparkly bits.
What writing advice have you been given that has changed your perspective on how you treat/view your work?
It's not advice, per se, but I told my therapist once about having a piece rejected and she congratulated me. That was the light-bulb moment when I realized that rejection meant I'd done something.
If you have any upcoming work (books, publications, features, art, etc), feel free to mention them here, so that we can support you!
I just had a song recommendation published in Memoir Mixtapes, and I blog about my experiences with my cochlear implant at thebeautifulgarbage.com -- that's more utilitarian but it's occasionally shot through with existential dread, too.
Jeanne Sharp (she/her) is a writer who has done everything but write for most of her adult life. To pay the bills, she has worked for 24 years in the nonprofit space. She lives in the desert (on Tohono O'odham ancestral land) and can be found on IG at @that_jeanne or on Twitter at @sharpwritings