Today’s post is a departure – a guest post from I.O. Kirkwood – but still within my “How to get Published” series theme. IO is a rising writer with a refreshing viewpoint. She, too was an unpublished writer until recently. Now read on…
WRITE, DARE, SUBMIT
Write
Since the age of 12, in almost 32 years, I have written over one-hundred beefy novels of complete crapola.
That’s ten million words, folks. I have authored my own Encyclopedia Crappanica, and I mean the umpteen-volume-set that requires a magnifying glass to read the entries. I don’t regret a single word (as long as they remain unread) because those ten million beauties reached critical mass in 2013.
Other people have a swifter learning curve than me:
Dare
I dared to write about something close to my heart. I wrote the first draft in an hour. I didn’t edit because I’d written ten million words of crap already. It was a freeing experience. I wrote with joy and passion. I walked away from the writing. I returned a week later to edit. When I reread the words, my creation did something that only other authors’ works had achieved: my story moved me. It wasn’t, “Hey, that’s great. I’m so clever, ha-ha!” I was moved to freakin’ tears. I’m not a Hallmark kind of gal. This was an unusual experience. I hold onto that memory because it has become a sign post of what a good story feels like.
Submit
Now I don’t know about any other writer, but knowingly submitting anything I write to anyone is akin to strong-arming me into the dentist’s office. (I don’t like the dentist. I’m traumatized even mentioning it. Oh, the things I do for my art.) I submitted the story electronically after over an hour of dithering about whether I should click the mouse, for Mike’s sake. Now that I look back on it, what a ridiculous waste of time. I could have been writing more words.
Recap
I recently discovered that the story is one of eleven finalists in the contest. It will be published in an anthology in 2014.
So, in a nutshell:
- WRITE. One million-, ten million-, eleven kagillion-words, it doesn’t matter. Build the bedrock upon which future writing will rest.
- DARE. Go to the place that gives you the emotional willies. Move yourself to tears.
- SUBMIT. The answer is always NO if you don’t ask. Interestingly enough, my second successful submission came a month after I submitted the first and will publish before the first! I am hoping my success will breed as quickly as bunnies, much like my word count did.
* * *
Thanks, IO. Many publishing successes to you!
Thanks for that one, Andy. Doing research to see if I have a story for novel #2, while waiting for a positive agent response to #1. This revived me like smelling salts.
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Glad it was a tonic. And it does happen, writers DO get picked-up for publishing. I’ve had 5 short stories published in recent months and a few more coming up, despite a series of rejections.
Don’t let the wotsits grind you down!
Persevere!
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Thanks For this Informative Article
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