A few thoughts on submission guidelines

I have been writing and submitting short stories for many, many years. It is a time consuming  process to find a suitable market, read their guidelines then conform to them. The requirements of editors are quite varied, and some of them are especially picky. Not that I am critical of that, but it can make the task of getting published more difficult. I've lost count of how many rejections I have received, how many times I've read the words 'thank you, but your story is not a good fit for us' (or something like that), and how many editors have simply never responded.

My message to you as a writer is: do not be discouraged. If you love to write, then persevere, and if you have any talent, you will find some rewards; not to mention the satisfaction of pursuing your dream or your hobby, or whatever it is that writing is to you.

Many of my stories which have been published were rejected multiple times. Despite all the submission guidelines hoopla, all you are looking for is an editor who likes your work. It's that simple really. It was the same deal when I completed my second novel, Loathe Your Neighbor, and was looking for a publisher. I wrote 66 query letters, and received nothing but rejections and no responses, until Jeanne Haskin at Artema Press, said yes. Why? Because she liked my work.

As I said, if you are any good at this art form, then for sure there will be people who appreciate what you do. The truth is that you actually don't even have to be that good. You can be pretty good, work hard and get lucky too. Everyone needs a bit of luck to be successful.

Getting back to short story submissions, here's my advice:

• be patient.
• be persistent. 
• pay attention to the guidelines. 
• don't send a story until you are satisfied that it is the best it can be .
• don't take rejection personally. 
• take every little bit of advice offered and mull it over.
• read a lot and read widely. 
• practice, practice, practice. 
• be focused. 
• decide what your writing goals are, and these goals will determine your actions.
• submit to Square Pegs E-zine
• 
  

Photo source for 'I love Writing this much"

http://www.thedutchphdcoach.com/writing/how-do-you-feel-about-writing/

Z End

Appalling and cheap. Unworthy of me and the high standards I set for this blog. Yes and yes, and yet I have reached the end. This is my third year of blogging A to Z in April and it really has been quite a challenge. There are multiple demands on my time, and I have been staying up later than usual to manage. I haven't had a bed time read for a month because by the time I get to bed, I'm too tired to even open the book. The Hobbit has been waiting patiently on my bedside table, silently craving my attention.

The challenge pushes me and I love that. Deadlines work for me. I can drift into unproductive nonchalance quite easily, and I do have a propensity for procrastination. I would love to have a editor demanding I finish my WIP, because of all my readers who were dying to get their hands on my fifth novel, and because of all the money they, the publishers that is, would make. I reckon I would rise to that challenge, instead of finding other things to do because really, where is the urgency? I do not have a galaxy of eager readers salivating over the prospect of another literary gem from D.A.Cairns. (Incidentally I do write literary gems) No one expects anything from me, except me.

So I end this whingefest in the 2015 A to Z Blogging Challenge, with a complaint against myself. I am indeed my own worst enemy. Fortunately, Jesus teaches us to love our enemies, and I can go with that quite happily.

A couple of questions to finish with: Do you do better working to deadlines, or setting your own pace? And secondly, who or what is your worst enemy?

Photo sources:
http://muls.org/2015/03/31/ill-later-said-law-student/
http://pha.purdue.edu/news/mu-deadlines-approaching-eps-and-hospitals

Anxious anticipation

With the manuscript for my fourth novel now complete to my satisfaction and ready to send, I have begun the dreaded querying process. There are a number of reasons why I don't look forward to, and I don't enjoy, this period of anxious anticipation, but the least of them is rejection. 

I've been writing for 16 years and I'm still wandering around in the forest of anonymity. I'm used to rejection. I've become very philosophical about it because I believe that I am a good writer. When an editor rejects my work, they are voicing their opinion, and that is all. If they offer some constructive criticism, which is rare, I take it on board, and then I send my work to someone else. If they say nothing, or offer some generic 'thanks, but no thanks', I send my work to someone else. I keep looking for the editor who 'gets' me. The one who reads my writing and says: 'I like this. This is good. This works for me.' I'm looking for that person right now.

No, it's not the rejection that bothers me as such. It's the process. Find a suitable publisher, read their submission guidelines, put together a submissions package to meet their requirements, send it, then wait. There are a few publishers who unfairly do not accept simultaneous submissions, but the majority understand that, given some quite long response times, it is reasonable for writers to reach out to as many publishers as possible, as quickly as possible. The query process is a rolling sales pitch.

It's time consuming, and somewhat annoying due to the diverse submissions criteria of various publishers. I understand why some of them are so exacting. With so many submissions coming in, they have to use whatever means available to sort the wheat from the chaff, and to make it as easy as possible for themselves.

Time consumed by querying, means less time for writing. I'm pretty confident of finding a publisher, but feel no less anxiety as I send each query off on a wing and a prayer. I wonder when. I wonder who. I wonder if this time, I will break free from the prison of obscurity. Wish me luck.