For December's creative challenge, I decided I would submit a short story a day all month. The reasons why I decided to do this are so many that I don't know if I'll be able to organize my thoughts on the subject.
For starters, I have been feeling low lately. This happens to me from time to time. It usually happens in the fall and into the early part of the winter. I really loathe the winter. I live in Colorado, and I do appreciate the fact that it's sunny all winter. It's dry. It's brown. It's really fucking dirty. And to circle back around to the submission process, when I feel down, the rejections that will inevitably come my way just don't affect me negatively. In the event that I get a publication, well, it really improves the overall feeling.
Also, I feel like every few years when I don't feel relevant anymore, a few publications make me feel like I'm still here, I'm still alive. To put it into perspective, my last publication was in the fall of 2020. That's a long time ago.
Then there is a practical element to this. When I submit to magazines, I treat it like research for my own magazine, Umbrella Factory Magazine. After all, UFM got it's start because of a rejection letter I got back in 2009.
The other thing I know, and this happens almost without fail, 90% of these submissions will be rejected. If not rejected, then ghosted. That leaves me with the 10% that will run in a magazine somewhere. If I submit all month, 31 submissions, if all goes well, I can count on 3 publications.
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