Wide-eyed & Wild-eyed in Writing & Submissions

MINOLTA DIGITAL CAMERAIn one of the last days before the regular job really kicked into gear, I sat manic and crazed in front of my computer revising a short story and posting a fellowship application and slamming a 300-word essay together in 45 minutes flat.

Maybe it was an hour, and maybe this wasn’t my very best work, but it was definitely a wide-eyed, wild-eyed attack on writing and submitting.

These last-minute attempts at literary scholarship don’t always produce prize-winning material (…wait, do they ever?), but they do produce. In that strange and stubborn moment, when I can do anything but sit one more day on a story, I find a tiny bit of hope and possibility and a fire rekindled, which for me was relief after a very quiet summer.

Sure, I anticipate the usual No’s, No thank you’s, and “Really…No” to hit my inbox in the next several months. Still, I don’t regret hitting SEND. After all, as Sherman Alexie says in this podcast with Jess Walter, submitting, acceptances, and rejections are all part of the “entire process of becoming a writer.”

Mantras help me push that process, phrases like “Why not?” and “Fearless writing” and (more recently) “Do the foot work.”

IMG_0424What that means is that one day in doing the foot work to get your portfolio together for the submission to that literary journal so far out of your league it’s laughable, you will sift through all those old stories and rejections (because who are we kidding, you save every one), and you will discover that half of the stories you sent out, which bounced back time and again, eventually did find a home.

It took countless tries, but they made it to publication, all because you sat crazed at the computer that one Monday afternoon and hit SUBMIT again and again.

What are you waiting for?

Notable Reads on Submissions and Writing

file000646615146This is the last week of school for my kids, which means this is the last week I’ll have extended periods of uninterrupted writing time for a while.

So, in lieu of spending two days writing a blog post (which, inevitably, is how long it takes me to get it to a self-satisfied publishable level), I’m leaving you with a few links to some great reading I’ve bookmarked.

Submissions

1) You may have seen these tips before, but it never hurts to read them again: 5 Writing Lessons 1 Writer Learned From Being an Editor, by Emily Wenstrom.

What makes a story good? Which will appeal to my readers? What’s the difference between a story that’s truly awful and one that is simply not up my alley?

2) And this reminder, in From the Slush Pile: Have You Got What It Takes? by Sarah Banse, to keep submitting, even when one editor turns you down:

Art is subjective. Readers have individual sensibilities and biases. Believe in your work and have faith that someone shares your artistic vision.

Writing

1) It’s all about perspective. In The Map and the Trail, Donald Maass highlights the importance of giving readers both the big picture and the close-up view of your character’s journey.

So, day-to-day what mostly do you observe in your life…the forest or the trees? Probably it depends on the day. That’s as it should be. And so it should be for the characters whose paths we hike in your fiction.

2) I love the saying that the real writing happens in the rewriting. In On Multiple Drafts, DM Gordon explains well how revisiting drafts (again and again) works for us, not against us.

[E]ach story has its own questions and each answers to its own world.

What have you bookmarked lately?

A Writer’s Week in Twitter Hashtags II *

I’ve been behind on my reading (and my writing, but that’s another post). Blame it on the weather, a series of sick days with kids, a lack of focus. I’m ready for Spring.

But, I’m catching up this week and armed with several articles worthy of bookmarks.

#Writing

What does a novel’s interior say about its characters? from Nichole Bernier on Beyond the Margins

[Certain novels’] distinctive settings stayed with me, years after reading the book, for being not just unforgettable, but critical in molding their characters. Environments that were epic not just because they were vividly drawn, but because they represented very specific emotional landscapes, sometimes packed into very small spaces.

#FindYourCommunity

For the man who called me for advice about how to get published, from Cathy Day on The Big Thing (when a phone call for quick advice turns into a lesson for her students, and all of us):

My advice: find two or three people in your classes [or your writing circle] who you can trade work with in the years to come, because you’re going to need those people. Bad.

#Submissions

Literary Magazine Submission Tips Submitted to Myself, by Joseph Scapellato on Gulf Coast Blog.

Submit to the idea that submitting your work can teach you where you’ve come from as a writer, where you’re at as a writer, and where you might be going as a writer.

#BookBloggers

Beth Hoffman – LOOKING FOR ME – Review on Tribute Books Reviews and Giveaways.

Beth Hoffman is a master at crafting a gentle story fierce with emotion. Her novels are comfort reads, and Looking for Me is no exception. It’s a work that defies categorization encompassing aspects of mystery, romance and literary fiction while maintaining a cozy distinctiveness that’s become a signature touch. Hoffman is a keen observer of life and her astute awareness of the world around her filters into her writing immersing the reader in detail that’s as multi-dimensional as it is visceral.

I’ve got my copy (and can’t wait to share all about in a Q&A with Beth Hoffman in May). You can pre-order your copy here.

What’s on your Twitter feed this week?

* Read A Writer’s Week in Twitter Hashtags (first edition) here.