(Originally published February 18, 2018)
I did a dumb thing. In the grand scheme of things it’s not that big of a deal, but I’m still sighing about it.
One of my resolutions* for this year was to get more rejection letters. I say this, because even though I’d much rather get acceptance letters, I tend to prepare myself for the worst. If I try and get accepted then Yay me! If I try and get rejected, then I’m succeeding at my resolution! Yay me!
I don’t care if the glass is half-full or half-empty, but I’d like to know if the liquid inside is poison.
I’m doing pretty good so far, with 1 story and 1 play having been sent out. My progress has been slowed by a massive project at work that has taken up most of my time (and sanity), as well as trying to get work done on the “Opus”**.
There would have been a second story sent out, but I did a dumb thing. My work-addled brain misread the website and didn’t realize that I’d have to check a different website every few days to see if the submission deadline had gone up (it was only open until it wasn’t).
By the time I was ready to submit, submissions had been closed for a week. *headdesk*
Not only did I miss an opportunity to get a rejection letter, but now I’ve got a story on my hands that only fits a specific criteria. However, I’m trying to look on the bright side:
I finished a story – beginning, middle, end, all of it!
I didn’t rush my work and I think it turned out pretty good
Should that kind of prompt turn up again, I have something!
The story could be modified if a similar prompt comes up
I FINISHED A STORY!
You should never consider any kind of writing a waste of your time. How does a person get good at anything (especially getting to Carnegie Hall***)? Practice. And, ho-boy, do I need a lot of practice finishing stories.
Write things. Finish things. Also, Edit things. Even if you have nowhere for them to go, just do it. Maybe one day a magazine will be looking for submissions and you’ll realize that something you wrote last year is a perfect fit.
Better too many stories than too few, amiright?
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*I think resolutions are stupid. Why do we wait for one specific day to make them? Why not make them whenever we want?
**A.K.A. “The Fifth Queen”. In fact, that’s what I’ll be working on as soon as this post is written.
***Waka, waka!