One page at a time
I did it! Yesterday I submitted my first article to a magazine. The moment my finger hovered over the send button was exhilarating and nerve wracking at the same time. Expectation is a short work of creative nonfiction pulled from my memoir.
Is the piece perfectly edited? Not yet, it’s been worked and reworked and needs more tweaking before it goes to the next name on my submission list. I could have held off and worked more, but I felt this need to get at least one out in the mail. I can now say that I’ve made concrete steps towards one of my writing goals. That sense of accomplishment will help me move forward.
Honestly, I think the story is not a match for this particular journal and I fully expect a rejection letter. There has to be a first for everything.
I feel validated by this step, as if somehow putting my name, my words out there for an editor makes me a writer. I know that’s not really true, but if feels more official. It’s like the child graduating from the 8 crayon box to the big 24 pack. The possibilities expand as well as the sense of having gained something. It’s exciting.
Congrats! Big step. And you have the perfect attitude toward the rejection part. Always remember that the critical thing is not how many times we fall, but how many times we get up.
Thanks, I couldn’t have done this without your help! I’ll keep you abreast of how it goes. I’ve got a couple of women’s magazines on the list to submit to and a few more literary.
Congratulations – that’s so exciting. I hope they get back to you quickly, waiting is the hardest part for me. Let us know what happens!
I’m awful at waiting, like a kid at Christmas. I’m pretty excited in spite of knowing it wasn’t the best it could be.
I’ll be sure to keep you updated!
Well done you! I recently submitted my first book to an agent or two, made me feel a bit sick dropping it into the post box!
Have been enjoying reading your blog, and I look forward to hearing how the waiting goes!
Nat x
http:thewritersideoflife.wordpress.com
Congrats to you! The book, that’s impressive.. I’m a good ways off from that goal.
Thank you for coming to visit and for adding me to your blogroll.
I’m rootin’ for ya!
Thanks. I appreciate the support
I’m so happy for you and what you are in the process of creating I could do cartwheels in the streets – instead…I’ll just dance!
Thank you very much for that. I’m feeling pretty good about the ways things are going.
Thanks for commenting on my blog; I’m glad you found the post on submissions and writer’s guidelines helpful. Congrats on getting your piece out there. I’ve found that it is hard to tell when a story is finished, and to let it go. It’s important to keep submitting it. But there is a scary sense of permanence that you can’t take back if accepted. Don’t let that hold you back. My first article appeared in the LA Times last month long after I’d changed the ending again, but people loved it anyway. I realized it didn’t matter – nobody knew its ‘imperfections’ but me!
Thank you for the support. I hadn’t even gone to the “published” place!