I finally did it!
I’ve been writing memoir seriously for the last twenty-five years, knowing that I wouldn’t try to publish anything until I’d retired from teaching and coaching. What I most want to write about isn’t stuff I’d want my students, my athletes, or their parents to read, so I waited patiently. Well, that someday has arrived.
I’ve been working on a particular piece, originally drafted for a Writing in the Dark class with Jeannine Ouellette in 2023, edited in another class around the same time, then brought out of the draft pile recently for a serious round of edits and some expansion.
I joined a writing group in January, then brought this essay three different times, editing along the way, until it felt “done.” Even then, it seemed presumptuous to submit my writing for the first time without having a professional editor take a look. I was lucky to get in touch with the teacher I first edited it with in 2023, Jenna McGuiggan, and she was happy to help. I waited 10 of the longest days of my life for her feedback, which turned out to be everything I’d hoped. First, it wasn’t too marked up, so I felt validated. Second, it was all things I knew were sticky, and had been fiddling around with already. She moved two words within a sentence, then one sentence within a paragraph. She asked questions that clarified something I knew needed fixing, making it easier. She took out a comma that I’d wrestled a few times already. Goodbye forever! My biggest fear was that the edit would make it less “my writing,” but that wasn’t the case at all. Finally, we workshopped some titles, I chose one, and my writing group confirmed.
To get to the point of having something ready to submit was a huge milestone, but now I needed to research where to send it, besides the few magazines I’ve had in mind for years. I used Submittable to get started, did a lot of research and reading of magazines I wasn’t as familiar with to see if they felt like a good fit, and narrowed it down to five. Let’s just say I’m dreaming big to start with, and if I’m going to get my first rejections, I want them to have some prestige. I have a lot more to say on researching and choosing where to submit, but that’s a whole different post someday soon.
Just when I thought the hardest part was over, I realize that a few of these publications request a bio, written in the third person, to be submitted with your entry. I cannot think of a worse thing to have to write. I would rather rip all of my clothes off and saunter down the street in the middle of the afternoon than write this bio, but over a couple of days I spit something out that’s short and witty enough to use. This was honestly the worst part of the process, especially since I don’t have any prestigious former publications to list. Yet.
I spent a lot of time checking and rechecking the requirements of the different places: don’t include your name in the manuscript, include a bio, limit your cover letter (Yes, also had to draft one of those!) to this many words, etc. Then I sent it to five publications over March 30th and 31st. I’m still planning to send it to at least three other places by the end of the month, unless of course, it’s accepted someplace by then!
I’m attending a Submissions Jumpstart session with Megan Alpert and planning to take advantage of what I learn there before this next round (and include in my upcoming post) I’ll also give the essay another going over, with the benefit of having let it sit for a few weeks, and see if it needs more tinkering. I’m still open to a better title, should an idea come to me, but for now, the one I have works. There’s something very cool about it which I will keep to myself for now.
The amount of time I’ve spent checking my Submittable page is ridiculous, but no more than I expected. Not sure if that’s good or bad! The most exciting news is that one of them says In Progress, while the others simply say Accepted. I know it could stay that way for months, then change to Rejected, but it feels like positive movement to me, so I’m going to enjoy it while it lasts. I’m even considering the new twitch under my left eye as a good sign!
Simply having submitted something feels validating, like somehow I haven’t been a “real writer” all this time because I wasn’t trying to publish. As I said to Ashley Hackett, I’m in the soup with all of you now! Huge shout out to Ashley for being an inspiration with her 1000 Rejections Challenge. My writer friends should check it out. She posts a monthly round up and I made the cut for March. Looking forward to commiserating with the community there when the rejections start rolling in.
The big question now is whether I’m more afraid of having my writing rejected by all the literary magazines I admire, or to have the raw truth of my story out in the world. The subject of this piece is one that a lot of people don’t know about me, something I’ve intentionally kept hidden for almost fifty years. But now I’m here, in my someday, writing about my childhood, so it has to come out. I’ve grasped on to the idea that it will have to be a triumph when it does, so it’ll happen when I get published somewhere impressive to soften the blow. Perfect, right? I’m daring them to publish it, in a way. Let’s rip the band-aid off and have something to celebrate at the same time! Win-win.
Time to start working on my next piece. Writing group is Monday and I better have something new ready to go. This weekend is for deciding which project to move forward with next. One benefit of those years of waiting is I have a lot of things started and saved up, so we’ll see which one I feel like spending time with.
What scary thing have you been waiting to do, writing related or not? It strikes me that this is VERY similar to applying for a job, or trying out for a part, or even dating, if that’s important to you. It’s about presenting yourself, in theory the best of yourself, to be judged. Scary AF, right? One of my best friends recently submitted his paintings to a gallery for a show for the first time, and I couldn’t be more proud of him.
Tell me in the comments what risky ways have you put yourself out there? What did you get out of it, even if it wasn’t the thing? Sorry, I have to use the word journey here, but that’s what I mean.
A SOMEDAY TIMES NEWSFLASH:
I’m going to start leading 60-minute generative writing workshops on Zoom in June. They’ll be for my paid subscribers, with a pathway for free subscribers to attend, and also a sale! All levels of writers are welcome. The first workshop will be on Hermit Crab Essays. If you’ve never heard of them, more reason to attend!
Stay tuned for more information on this soon!
I’m hoping to submit to environmental publications this year! Can relate so bad.
so happy for you, Lisa! this is such a huge step :') and it all gets easier from here (plus, you can recycle those first bios and cover letters!) thanks for giving the Rejections Challenge a shout-out!