IWSG - Don't Give Up! Tales of a Minor Comeback
Hello and Happy Wednesday! It's time for the next Insecure Writer's Support Group!
That's right, it's time for the IWSG, a monthly blog hop created by Alex J. Cavanaugh where writers get together and share their insecurities. Anyone can join. Simply click on Alex's name and put your blog on the linky list. Or participate on the Facebook page.
The co-hosts this month are Beth Camp, Jean Davis, Yvonne Ventresca, and PJ Colando. Be sure to hop by and thank them for hosting!
The optional question this month is: Since it's back to school time, let's talk English class. What's a writing rule you learned in school that messed you up as a writer?
I feel like a lot of the rigid grammar rules were things I had to let go of. Like not ending a sentence with a preposition. Not starting sentences with "and" or "but." Things like that. And I'm sure I'm missing a bunch of rules that I still wrestle with. I do believe in learning the "right" way of doing things in order to break those rules in the right ways in the future, and that applies to a lot of writing rules, in general.
Instead of writing about a an insecurity this month, I'm going to do a positive post. I had a real dry period where my stories weren't selling, and I figured that meant it was a good time to work on novel writing for a bit, which I did. Then I recently had a period of determination where I sat down and started getting all those old stories resubmitted (well, not all of them, as there are only so many markets). Suddenly, I'm getting acceptances again. It's the same stories that were being rejected before, so who knows why the dry spell, though I did write a new story for an invitation I had, and it was accepted. I even sold one that was a hard sell, not because it wasn't a good story, but because it was pretty gross and there were very few markets I could even consider submitting it to without breaking the rules, so I mostly sat on it until I found the perfect market for it. I'll have more news on that one before the October IWSG! There's even going to be a virtual launch party, and the editor I'm working with seems excited about the story, which makes me so happy.
The point of all that? Don't give up. I went from selling multiple stories each month to selling zero stories in 2023. Given, I eventually fell away from submissions by choice, but I was still submitting a few here and there and not placing them. Don't be afraid to take a break and try something different or just mix it up for a bit. I seriously reached a point where I was thinking I must have forgotten how to write or that my writing was all crap. (But then I finished two novels, so...ya' know, we're not always rational human beings). My day job was really beating me down, though I need to be clear that it's the nature of the job itself, not the company I work for. It hasn't stopped, but I've reached a slightly more peaceful place with it, which is hopefully going to free up my creativity a bit. It's definitely not perfect yet. Real life is biting me in the behind quite a bit, so there's not a bunch of time or energy left for writing. I'm not going into it, but I'm struggling more emotionally right now than I have in a long time. That combined with a constant onslaught of rejections was not good for me. But I'm figuring it out, and I'm going to make progress with it. Recognizing the real problems is the first step to that. And it doesn't hurt to have made some sales!
Okay, time for stats!
August submissions stats for short stories:
7 submissions
1 acceptance
2 rejections
I should have more information on my articles in Rocky Mountain Reader, as well as some upcoming book reviews in the same publication, by the next IWSG (or before), and I'll have had a story out before then, too, so will post about that then. And check in next week for some news from H.R. Sinclair!
Heather L. Barksdale reviewed Myth Stalker: Wendigo Nights this week if you want to check out the review or any of her other reviews!
A question before I go: I was thinking of doing one post a month on autism related topics, including writing stuff for neurodivergent folks, and maybe true crime stories once per month. Are either of those something that would interest people? I'd also like to go back to having a monthly Wordless Wednesday, where I post photos (and if you've been around for a while, you know I break the rules, so it used to be Mostly Wordless Wednesday, where I gave some details surrounding the photos much of the time). If nothing else, I'm just hoping the MWW would get me back taking photos, which is very much a happy place for me that I just haven't had time, inspiration, or energy for.
Are you submitting? Have you ever taken an extended break or shifted your focus in order to do so? How did it go? What are your current insecurities?
May you find your Muse.
Never give up, never surrender! Glad you didn't and you are getting acceptances again.
ReplyDeleteI like the Wordless Wednesday posts others do.
Hi, Shannan, Something similar happened to me in 23, I steppe away from submitting and can't really say why. It felt like I was fighting an uphill battle, but strangely enough I kept writing. I jus started back submitting in July of this year. I so agree that we have to sometimes step back, slow i down and keep moving forward even if it is only one step at a time. All the best and take care.
ReplyDeleteShalom shalom
That's wonderful! What a confidence booster.
ReplyDeleteWoot! I'm glad things are looking up for you!
ReplyDeleteI think I ignored all the grammar rules when I was in school. It's amazing I'm able to write anything coherent, actually.
Congrats on all the story acceptances.
ReplyDeleteNot giving up is something I needed to read. I'll always write, but I don't always submit. I appreciate you saying that we all have dry spells and to hang in there. Thanks for that. :-)
ReplyDeleteCongratulations on your accepted stories! I've had to take an extended break from my fiction stories here and there because of burn out, although for me extended break is one week or more, but I think there has been times where I've taken two weeks off.
ReplyDeleteI know what you mean when you say there are only so many markets to submit to. Before I went indie there were times I ran out o fmarkets to submit to and out of all those my stories still weren't accepted.
I think we all go through those dry spells at some point, whether with the writing itself or the acceptance of it. It can knock your confidence no matter what success you had before, so I'm glad things are on an upswing for you again.
ReplyDeleteSo glad that things are picking up for you again! I've been doing a steady dribble of submissions, and every now and then one gets taken--less than one a year, and I figure the only way to fix that is more submissions and more rejections. As for the blog posts, I'm not much interested in true crime (well, or horror, which is your genre, so maybe don't listen to me!) but would very much like to read some about neurodivergence and writing, since there's a fair bit of both in my household these days.
ReplyDeleteYou're right the key is to make progress by recognizing real problems. Great job with such a wonderful post, and you have yourself a fabuloso (as George Lucas says) rest of the day buddy!
ReplyDeletethegeektwins.com