Don't Give Up!

I've considered myself a writer my entire life. I mean that as literally as I can (obviously I wasn't a writer when I was four). I've seen some of my earliest work, in kindergarten and first grade, and it made me smile: that little hand and that little mind creating a story about a sailboat, written shakily on the big paper with lines at the bottom and space for a picture at the top. I wrote my first "novel" (really a novella) in fifth grade, a mystery written in a spiral notebook with green ink. Longhand. My next novel (true novel-length piece) was finished before eighth grade, and Mrs. Shulman, my eighth grade Language Arts teacher, gave me honest feedback and made me feel that reaching this dream was possible.

That was the first time I considered letting someone else read my work.

It was also the last time, until 2017, when I began the journey to become a published author.

* * *

Submitting our work can be frightening, exciting, and nerve-wracking. We love our work, obviously, but will other people like it? We've spent months or years crafting a story or poem; did we work on it long enough? We've considered where to send it; are we sending it to the right editor or agent?

Here are some do's and don'ts of submitting your work.

Kim Winternheimer, founding editor of The Masters Review, shares some strategies on Aerogramme Writers' Studio. She suggests that while we should have that ultimate, top-tier submission goal -- that one magazine or publishing house where we would love to see our name on the list of published works -- we should keep our goals realistic. Very few writers will get picked up by The New Yorker the first time out of the gate. That doesn't mean we shouldn't try.

In the meantime, submit to second- and third-tier publications. Get out there. Get seen. Get read.

But how can we be sure the editors will read it?

Avoid typos. Use customary formatting. Submit the correct word count the publisher is seeking. Include the supplemental material the publisher wants you to include. Above all, follow the publisher's submission guidelines. (from Writer's Relief)

If you can't respect the publisher (literary magazine, contest, or large publishing house) enough to follow their guidelines, why should they bother with you? After all, at this stage, no one reading this blog is Patricia Cornwell. (If Patricia Cornwell is by some crazy chance reading this, I am honored, and speechless.) We haven't yet made it big, so we can't break the rules.

More than anything else, though, is advice I repeat to myself over and over: don't quit. Because once upon a time, Patricia Cornwell was at a point in her career where she hadn't yet published anything.

Don't give up.