Last year, sitting out on my front verandah with a little drink and a notebook, I was hit by a crazy idea for a short story. I started to scrawl in my notebook. After a few minutes I stopped. The idea was starting to scare me, and I backed out. After another few minutes of contemplation, I knew I had to continue: if the idea scared me, it was powerful.
I spent hours revising and honing the story to get it just right. I submitted it to Every Day Fiction on 5 December. And I waited.
Then, on 3 February 2010, I got a rewrite request. They liked the story, but it needed to work. The feedback they gave made sense, so I got to work. I submitted my revised story on 24 February. And I waited.
Then, on 22 May I got... another rewrite request. This shook me, and I spent some time re-reading the feedback, and thinking about whether to do another rewrite, or just drop it. I decided to go ahead, and submitted my re-revised story on 2 June. And I waited.
Then, on 29 June I got an acceptance! That was wonderful; but, before I could see it published online, I had to wait some more.
People Need to Know appeared online on 22 August 2010, 260 days after I'd first submitted it. It was a great feeling. Most of the feedback was postive, and it's rating reasonable well. People Need to Know taught me a lot about patience; one of the great lessons in how to get published.
I enjoyed your post. It’s a lot like college – we should absorb everything we can but ultimately you need to take what you’ve learned and apply it.
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ReplyDeleteI have read your blog and found it very intresting. I am also a book lover and my favourite authors are Ruskin Bond, Aravind Adiga, Khuswant Singh etc. I have read many of books written by them.
I sometimes think that I should write a story. and an idea is hitting me continuously. But the problem is that English is my second language and I found it difficult to write my own story in english. sometimes I think that I should write my story in Hindi, which is my mother tongue. But I found it boring to write in Hindi.
I am in dillemma. would you like to help me please?