Friday, April 22, 2016

S is for Submit! and Celebrate the Small Things-April 22, 2016

This year for the A-Z Challenge, I'm attempting to act like I know what I'm talking about and offering advice about writing.  Let's see how I do!

Also, don't forget to stop by the Parallels blog to see more posts about the upcoming anthology, which will be available on May 3rd!

Please consider supporting our Thunderclap campaign!




No, I’m not ordering all of you to submit to my will or anything like that.  You needn’t worry.  I’m merely suggesting that you take that frightening step of submitting your work.

A crucial part of becoming a published writer is enduring the submission process.  This could mean submitting a short story to a magazine, submitting a manuscript to a publisher, sending a query letter to an agent, sending a proposal to a magazine for an article, etc.  It’s terrifying because, once we submit something, receiving a rejection becomes a real possibility.  We look at all the great writers we know, and we find their personal stories of rejection.  When we look at the number of times our favorite writers have been rejected, we can choose one of two possible responses.  We can say “If they were rejected, there’s no way I’m ever going to make it.”  Or we can say “They persevered and it paid off, so I think I’ll do the same thing.”

Rejections can be badges of honor.  They prove that we’ve taken the risk.  We’ve put ourselves out there, and repeatedly submitting is the only way to get that rare and precious acceptance letter.







It's Friday! Let's Celebrate the Small Things with Lexa Cain.  Tonja Drecker and I are her co-hosts.

First of all, Michelle Wallace is featuring my novella Self-Help 101 or: How I Learned to Take Over the World Through Tolerating My Family on her blog today.  Be sure to stop by and have a look if you're so inclined.

It's been a busy week, and I'm exhausted.  We visited some good friends earlier this week, and my kids enjoyed playing with their kids.  Everyone had a great time.

My husband and I went out stargazing with our telescope the other night and took some great video of the moon.  He edited it and it looks great.  Here are a few still images taken from the video so you can get an idea of how everything looked.






What would you like to celebrate?



12 comments:

  1. Rejections are badges of honor.. that's a positive thought! Good post!
    Seena

    #AtoZChallenge - S is for Social (media) Babies

    ReplyDelete
  2. I never thought of them as badges of honor....wow...I have loads of those! :)

    I love stargazing. Have a nice weekend.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Yep, you can't get published if you don't hit that submit button. The worst they can do is say no.

    ReplyDelete
  4. I might celebrate the end of yesterday's migraine--fingers crossed. Those moon pictures are very cool.

    Submissions are frightening, but getting back a request for pages or better yet, a yes on the anthology, was worth the pain.

    ReplyDelete
  5. Thinking about rejection as a badge of honor is a really great way of looking at it.

    Cheers - Ellen | thecynicalsailor.blogspot.com

    ReplyDelete
  6. I agree with the sentiment of rejection being a badge of honor. I've been afraid of submitting anything because of the fear of being rejected. But to be a good writer means taking risks and learning from rejection.

    G. R. McNeese from
    Project Blacklight

    ReplyDelete
  7. Submitting can definitely be scary! But you'll never get anything published if you don't try.

    ReplyDelete
  8. Congrats on achieving success with Thunderclap for Parallels, I'm still struggling. Did not realize it'd be this difficult. Honestly thought I knew 100 people. :)
    Love those photos of the moon! Amazing!

    ReplyDelete
  9. You don't seem to be only acting :D You know what you are talking about for sure. Rejection IS scary but being accepted is a bliss so it's worth the risk.

    Judging by this post, I'll have to binge read the whole thing once this April Madness is over!

    https://riandurants.wordpress.com/

    ReplyDelete
  10. Those images are fantastic! Rejections are badges of honor- like that. Heaven knows I've collected a huge share ;)

    ReplyDelete
  11. Acceptance and rejection makes up the seesaw life of the writer.
    Maybe rejection slips need to be pinned to a bulletin board above the workstation...I think some writers do so.
    Writer In Transit

    ReplyDelete
  12. I bet submitting to your will would be fun, though. We'd probably wind up rockin' out on a beach gazing at the starry night sky, jamming on an acoustic guitar and roasting marshmallows for s'mores. You know, after we'd done your evil bidding and whatnot. :-)

    ReplyDelete