Lessons from two years of re-writing and rejection
Selling my first short story and markets to submit
The first story sale is writer-life changing event. It’s a point for reflection and celebration (yay, cheer!). While I don’t hinge my writer identity on publishing credentials, because I can’t control the subjective nature of publishing. In this article, I reflect on the 2 years from draft to publication of “Dragging Bones to the Ocean,” sharing below the lessons from the writing process. From this milestone, a another beginning is born.
Writing a novel [or story] is like building a wall brick by brick; only amateurs believe in inspiration. — Frank Yerby
In January 2024, “Dragging Bones from the Ocean” was published in Cosmic Monthly Horror Issue #43. A ghost ship tells the story of his last voyage. Growing out of the hubris of men, hatred and evil enveloped the vessel and humanity. I wrote the first draft as a prologue for a trunked manuscript, a 90K word speculative novel that garnered full-requests from agents but ultimately didn’t secure representation. Upward and onward! So, even as I archived 87K words, I kept re-fining the ghost ship story.
Using Yerby’s analogy, the story started as a foundation for a longer form. I do believe in the value of inspiration to carry on the building. Grand and immaculate holy buildings started from a desire to please a higher power. Without inspiration tasks can become route and unimaginative.
For trunked manuscript, I had been mulling over a prologue. Without a specific reason, I read Ernest Hemingway’s Old Man and the Sea. I balled my eyes out. The story sparked something in me about the sea and 19th century.
In the next two years, I rewrote the story 7 times and submitted it to 30+ magazines. If ones doesn’t need inspiration for a writing practice, they certainly need inspiration for submitting to journals. I continued to shepard this piece to publication. It doesn’t always take this long. I have other stories published in lesser time and ones that will likely surpass the 2 year timeline. To become a writer, one must find value in the journey.
Writing is the slowest burns of my life. The practice is interwoven with my full-time job as a data engineering manager, mother, and partner. It’s the opposite of fast paced and demanding corporate work, balancing out the energy in my life. It’s a place where I can become anyone and do anything. Only self-imposed deadlines right now. Stories aren’t fenced in by years of experience or holding a certain position. It’s a safe space for my shadow to connect and play. The more outlandish the scenes, the more sane in real-life I become. Creative play is especially important while I am mostly sedentary, tied to a computer.
The process of selling my first story showed me the threshold of done. It’s a feeling and a point in time when friction between words, sentences, and paragraphs melt away. Every sentence conveys something new in the story. In real life, I am full of repetition but in my published work every sentence is an efficiency layer of thought.
Comments from beta readers will shift from clarifying questions to comments about themes and tone. Feedback is valuable only as it applies to the story and not criticism of a writer’s ability. The value of feedback is a function of delivery, writer’s own self-awareness, writer’s frame of mind, and writer’s intuition. If not taken with care, feedback can be harmful. So, if the time isn’t right, then no feedback is sometimes better than bad feedback. Keep writing until you’re ready to hear from others.
Rejection as a writer is at best part of the process, making your writing better like an “audit” with fresh eyes and helping to flag stories that aren’t ready for prime time. At its worse, rejection is a demoralizing emotion. In my experience, the more I submit, the more the rejection fades into a process. My emotional triggers disappear. I view each story as a finite entity — an aggregation of my energy, a container from a certain time and space. There will be more and hopefully better.
Incorporate other people into your process. It could be giving or receiving feedback, commiserating in rejections, celebrating acceptances, attending/participating in live readings, and learning from each other. Developing a community is common advice. If you’re going to take-away a lesson then put your effort in community. I would like to think that every editor is engaging in a conversation with me. Don’t self reject, submit! Art is subjective.
Overall, publishing a story is based on variables out of a writers control. So, loosen the grip on having to know. Be free. Even A.I. cannot predict the number of literary magazines opening at any give time, the actual themes of submissions calls, and the availability of other high-quality pieces. Editors don’t want A.I. generated stories and readers won’t read it, so creative writers are safe for now.
If you found this article helpful then leave a note or follow me on my substack (paulinechow.substack.com) For writers who haven’t submitted to or read short story magazines, I listed accessible markets to start with below.
- 50-word story: Condense emotions into 50 words.
- 101-words: Writing doesn’t always mean a lot of words. Try writing the same story in 50 and then 101 words.
- Literally Stories: Fun and casual website created by writers, hosting a variety of stories across many categories.
- Chamber Magazine: Publishes dark fiction and poetry. The submission process was straight-forward.
- CreepyPod: Submit your story for voice-over on a podcast. Accepts flash and longer lengths.
