another wallflower
i got rejected! not the relationship kind, the rejection slip variety. so those poems i sent to literary journal crazyhorse back in august? i finally got a response, albeit negative, but positive in the sense that the editors did get around to reading my work and making a decision. i was starting to wonder . . . it's been almost 8 months. even though it's not a handwritten note, the rejection slip still goes up on my wall of thumbtacked failed attempts at publication. in a backwards-logical way, the more rejection slips i get up there, the closer i am to getting published. it just made me feel more serious as a "real" writer, like i am doing something proactive towards "becoming" a writer.
i'm still waiting to hear back on the short fiction contest at columbia college chicago. i sent a short-short excerpt of the novel in october because they encouraged novels-in-progress. i stumbled upon the opportunity while breezing through the english department of columbia during my trip to chicago last summer. judging by the response time from crazyhorse, i'd say i still have a way to go, especially if they get a lot of submissions. i'm not sure how big this contest is (they do pay $500 first prize), but columbia is a strictly artsy school, with a whole department devoted to fiction, so . . . you do the math. i can't. (i'm convinced i got 2 right brain halves, since i have almost no left-brain capabilities.)
and finally, i got so excited to receive that SASE in the mail last week (it took a minute for it to register when i opened my mailbox -- my own handwriting in the address threw me off), that i got inspired to get my novel out the door. officially. i've been delaying a decision on which set of consecutive chapters to send with my query letter i've had typed up since last july. but saturday i sat down with a cup of coffee at the old emporium and seriously looked through my latest version of the manuscript, and it just hit me. i found the perfect set that i feel complements the letter and "shows" what i "tell" in the description to the editor.
i'm trying to get my query package out today. it's a canadian medium-size independent press that i've had picked out forever. i've chosen insomniac press, with its ironic name, to be my novel's first attempt. my virgin manuscript is about to become a little less innocent, and a little more worldly-wise, in the writer's market.
i'm still waiting to hear back on the short fiction contest at columbia college chicago. i sent a short-short excerpt of the novel in october because they encouraged novels-in-progress. i stumbled upon the opportunity while breezing through the english department of columbia during my trip to chicago last summer. judging by the response time from crazyhorse, i'd say i still have a way to go, especially if they get a lot of submissions. i'm not sure how big this contest is (they do pay $500 first prize), but columbia is a strictly artsy school, with a whole department devoted to fiction, so . . . you do the math. i can't. (i'm convinced i got 2 right brain halves, since i have almost no left-brain capabilities.)
and finally, i got so excited to receive that SASE in the mail last week (it took a minute for it to register when i opened my mailbox -- my own handwriting in the address threw me off), that i got inspired to get my novel out the door. officially. i've been delaying a decision on which set of consecutive chapters to send with my query letter i've had typed up since last july. but saturday i sat down with a cup of coffee at the old emporium and seriously looked through my latest version of the manuscript, and it just hit me. i found the perfect set that i feel complements the letter and "shows" what i "tell" in the description to the editor.
i'm trying to get my query package out today. it's a canadian medium-size independent press that i've had picked out forever. i've chosen insomniac press, with its ironic name, to be my novel's first attempt. my virgin manuscript is about to become a little less innocent, and a little more worldly-wise, in the writer's market.