The MS is in the Mail

[pameladlloyd]

My interview appointment has been postponed (for reasons about which I can only speculate) and my friend didn't need a ride after all, so I put my time to good use to determine the next recipient publication, print out a clean copy of the "Trouble's Reasons" manuscript and a new cover letter and SASE, and get that baby back on it's way to a new potential home.

In many ways, keeping my manuscripts circulating has been the most difficult thing for me. When it comes back to me, I tend to take that as a message that the manuscript isn't good enough, even though I know it just means it hasn't found the right home at the right moment. However, I resisted the temptation to rewrite, and sent it out. Well, I did make one little tiny change to one sentence. I resisted the temptation to obsess over who was the best possible home for the story, and sent it out. I just sent it out!!

What are your strategies for keeping your work circulating? Do you have any strategies for quashing that nasty little voice that tells you your writing isn't good enough? How do you keep from clinging to things you know are ready?

Comments

[core-opsis.livejournal.com]

(oooh, I love Banish Misfortune--it's one of my favorite jigs)

Back when I was submitting stuff, I kept a large three-ring binder with one section for different publishers and one section for different stories, so that I could see what all I'd sent where and what kinds of responses I got from whom (including copies of letters that had personal notes)--and I know that there are nifty electronic ways of doing this, but something about having the physical pages made it much easier to keep things sent out. For every story, I had a list of possible homes, and when it came back from one, I just sent it to the next on the list. (I did do my research, so it wasn't like I was just sending things out willy-nilly). Strangely enough, I actually really enjoyed that part of the process too.

As far as the nasty little voice goes....well, some days are always better than others. Have your read Anne Lamott's Bird by Bird: Some Instructions of Writing and Life. She was some really funny things to say about that voice.

[pdlloyd.livejournal.com]

It's fun. And seems appropriate to listen to when I'm thinking about my stories out there, all by their lonesomes, in the mail, or in some reader's hands, or maybe just drifting out to space.

[asakiyume.livejournal.com]

Mmm, there's something very nice about the sound of that binder system.

[pdlloyd.livejournal.com]

Yes, I'm liking that idea, too. :)

[asakiyume.livejournal.com]

My problem might be in the other direction--maybe I should do more revision than I do! But I take each rejection as a challenge and go racing back to Ralan or Duotrope to find another possible venue to submit to. I don't keep a paper record like core_opsis, just folders in my e-mail.

[pdlloyd.livejournal.com]

I've loved your stories and poems. We, each of us, has our own process. There are no rules, except those we make for ourselves, and those may change with every project.

None of the markets I've submitted this particular story to accept email submissions, so I have to keep track some other way. I know there are databases available. But, this isn't so much a matter of how to keep track of things, but how to stay motivated and on track. Hmm, which ties back to keeping track of things. *sigh*

[asakiyume.livejournal.com]

Both Ralan and Duotrope do also list places that only accept snail mail submissions too. I've only just started using the Duotrope site, and I'm impressed by the variety of places it lists--sort of maintream standard "The Kenyon Review"-type places as well as spec fic and fantasy places.

Are you working on new stories at the same time? ... I actually haven't been writing in a while, for various reasons, but I do have a story theoretically on the go.

[pdlloyd.livejournal.com]

Umm, . . . theoretically. I've got a trio of stories I wrote over the summer that need a rewrite. Two, I think, need only minor nudges, while one I've realized will be much better with a complete rewrite. (The prose is okay, but the plot has thickened. *g*)

I've also started several new things, but haven't gotten as far as I'd like with them, plus I have a list of things I want to write.

Many years ago when I was just starting out, someone once asked a big name author (Jennifer Roberson, one of the nicest people out there) if she ever worried about not having enough ideas. She never got a chance to answer, as I jumped in with both feet to ask the questioner whether she ever worried she'd stop dreaming.

Day dreams or night dreams, inspired by a news story, or another fiction story, there are a cazillion ideas just waiting for us, or lunging at us from the shadows in the hallway. The real question is: How do we develop the skill to make the ideas shine? Well, that, and: How do we keep our spirits up as we're developing our skills?

[core-opsis.livejournal.com]

"The real question is: How do we develop the skill to make the ideas shine? Well, that, and: How do we keep our spirits up as we're developing our skills?"--indeed!

[pdlloyd.livejournal.com]

:-)

[crinklequirk.livejournal.com]

Ditto. :)

How do we develop the skill?

[asakiyume.livejournal.com]

These days, I try to see what it is about writing that knocks my socks off, and see if I can do that :-) ....also, about what things trip me up when I read, and see if I can avoid doing them. Then, practice, I guess (which I'm not doing so well with right now...)

My spirits don't tend to fall too much--they only fall when I let myself get too invested in publishing. The actual writing part is (so far) almost always fun, and if one or two people, even, can engage in the story, then I feel happy.

Re: How do we develop the skill?

[pdlloyd.livejournal.com]

I tend to be a perfectionist. When I can't meet my own very high standards, this can get me down. Which reminds me of janni's recent post on the importance of doing things badly (http://janni.livejournal.com/538320.html).