I have a short story ready to submit. Isn’t that great?
I have never gotten a piece this long (5,000 words) ready for publication before so I thought I would share the process with you.
I originally wrote this short story for a local community college class assignment years ago when I was still working full-time. This class was “time out of time” and I loved every second of it!
A couple of years ago, a writing friend asked me if I had any stories already written. I remembered this one and pulled it out. I reread it and I was amazed at a) the crappy writing, and b) the complete story arc (I did that!) Focusing on what worked in the story, I started working on it again. And then again.
A few rewrites later, I submitted it to an online critique group and then put it away again.
This January, I decided this was the year—plus my friend said she’d beat me bloody if I didn’t submit the story already (I had said I’d do last year!) Isn’t it great to have supportive friends?
I brought the story to my critique group, and rewrote it again. Then I submitted a short scene that was giving me trouble (I can see it my head, but can my readers?) to an online chat. The critique was in some ways bizarre (how did they jump to the conclusion that one of my characters was a lesbian from the dialogue: “I do not date?”) but in other ways very helpful (I did not need the level of detail I originally wrote to show how two people were sitting). I rewrote the scene, making it tighter and (hopefully) crystal clear.
Reading the story out loud to myself was painful, but necessary. I caught a lot of little words that made the dialogue sound stilted to my ear.
I gave the story to some friends to read. One gave me great “big picture” feedback. I had asked her to tell me if there was any place in the story that was confusing or didn’t make sense. She told me that never happened. Phew! Two other friends read it and said it was good. Not as helpful but reassuring, nonetheless.
One last edit to make sure the word count met the limit, and then I brought the story to my critique group one more time. No suggested changes. Cool.
I could keep tinkering with the story, but at this point I think I would be making it worse rather than better.
So, here’s what I’m going to do—today:
- Send my story (my baby, my heart) into the world.
- Let go of any attachment to how it will be received. (That’s not my business.)
- Start a new story.
What are you getting ready to send into the world?
Diane MacKinnon, MD, is currently a full-time mother, part-time life coach. She is a Master Certifiied Life Coach, trained by Martha Beck, among others. She is passionate about her son, her writing and using her mind to create a wonderful present moment. Find her life coaching blog at http://www.dianemackinnon.com/blog.
Hello Diane, I’m Richie and I am a new follower of your blog. I really enjoy your coaching and advice you give so far and it makes me feel like writing again.
I love to write and I think I got this desire from my mother early on in life. I dreamed of being a writer since my youth. When other kids dreamed of being a fire fighter, police man, or a wrestler, I dreamed of being a writer. With very little higher learning, I searched the web and found places I could write for and earn a little money for doing it. They taught me that websites need material for their viewers and using the same short pieces over and over made their sites seem stale and out dated. The major place I wrote for was Associated Content. I found other writers making a living doing it full time and sure enough my short articles, which could be on any subject by the way, were being purchased and used in search engines all over the web.
As always with me life takes a turn and circumstances change, so I had to stop. I later got involved in poetry and after that I became affiliated with the biggest article house of them all The Ezines Article website. My point is, or rather my question is, have you considered using your talents for providing short articles to be used as website material, or what I’m asking is, what do you think of this type of writing? These big websites, for example WebMD, need writers for daily material and I want to pick up my pin (keyboard) and start writing again.
This is just a little FYI for you and maybe a little for me as well…LOL! You probably know about everything I mentioned, but since I’m a new follower to your blog, I thought I would take time to write you. Thanks for the new friendship, I really enjoy your coaching thus far.
Sincerely,
Rich Monday
Hi Rich,
Thanks for your comments and for the information! I actually submitted an article to Ezine Articles, but I haven’t had a chance to submit more. The first was accepted, so I do plan to submit more. Thanks for the reminder!
Thank you for sharing part of your story–it really sounds like you’re ready to start writing again. Best wishes!
Warmly,
Diane
Thanks for this. The process it similar to sculpting…You have inspired me to try! Question- One friend of mine told me that once your story appears in your blog, it is considered published and unable to be sent. Is this true?
Hi sillyfrogsusan,
Thanks for your comment. If you post something to your blog, it is published, and if the place you are submitting to asks for unpublished material, then you can’t submit it. Check the submission guidelines, though, wherever you are hoping to submit, as there are exceptions.
Hope this helps!
Warmly,
Diane
You go girl!
I haven’t had the guts yet to submit. Still in the “crap” stage! Or, at least I think so. Just joined a new critique group so maybe that will change very soon. I have a story about a little girl who makes a grasshopper her pet that I’m working on. It is NOT a children’s story, but a glimpse into the inner workings of a child learning to cope with extreme changes in her life, and how those changes affect her mindset. Like you, I’m finding it difficult to mold this story the way I want. I know why this is – because it’s an intensely dramatic piece and I’m fearful of it ending up being morbid or too heavy for a reader to digest.
It’s so hard to get it come out the way you want huh? I hear you loud and clear – my story is great in my head and getting it OUT the way we’d like is the real challenge. When I told this story orally to my 16 year old, she cried. I might need to bring it down a notch, but…maybe not…
Oh, the decisions that go into the development of a piece!
Hi Laura,
Thanks for your comments. What are you waiting for? It sounds like you have a great story there. I hope your critique group helps you go through the story and tweak it until you feel comfortable sending it out into the world. I submitted my story yesterday and I’m still walking on air–and all I’ve got to show for it so far is an email saying they received my submission!
Rework that piece and then let it go! Good luck!
Warmly,
Diane
Congrats! And definitely start on another story, and another and another. I’ve had stories accepted and rejected – and learned something every time!
Hi sheilapierson,
Thanks! I pulled out another story last night. I’m doing my “10,000 hours” and I’m just going to keep plugging away at it. A friend recently told me that she got a rejection from Random House and I said, “Wow, I can’t wait ’til I’ve been rejected by Random House!”
Thanks for the encouragement!
Warmly,
Diane
That’s a great. A friend of mine told me he’s kept all his rejection letters – used them as encouragement to keep plugging away
He’s a great writer and novelist today….
Good luck, Diane! So glad it’s not just me who takes forever to incubate something like that. Sending good vibes your way!
Hi Jamie,
Thanks! I’ll take all the good vibes I can get!
Warmly,
Diane
Good luck and thanks for sharing your process!
Hi Anna,
Thanks for your comments and thanks for reading!
Warmly,
Diane
I really enjoy writing short. I have several stories I’m updating and filling out to sell as an e-book collection. Finally all those stories will have new life. Writing short is not easy-you have to be so succinct; every word has to be needed and no more. A great exercise in editing.
Hi corajramos,
Thanks for your comments. Good luck with your e-book. I agree, writing a short story is not easy, but I so enjoy the process. Keep writing!
Warmly,
Diane
Thank you so much for sharing your experience here. As someone who is soon to follow in your footsteps, it is nice to know what I’ll be up against. I’ve heard similar stories in my writing classes. It’s nice to know you’re not alone in the process. This is such a great group of gals. Is there any way I could join your group?
Hi ltreadway,
You’re welcome. When you ask about joining our group, do you mean the bloggers here at NHWN? If so, we do have guidelines for guest posting, which is the first step. You can find the information under the Who/What tab of this blog. Under “About the Blog,” you’ll find our Guest Blogger Guidelines. You can download the PDF and then contact us at all@nhwritersnetwork.com. Good luck and keep writing!
Warmly,
Diane
Your posts are so helpful and inspiring to those of us who are procrastinating, self-doubting writers–which I’m learning is the majority of us.
I’ve been enjoying a unique career as a flight attendant for 18 years, first for a military charter company, then an international charter that took me to living in India and Saudi Arabia for extended periods and now I’m in private jet aviation. It has been an intention for most of those years and I am now finally writing about those incredible experiences and where they are still leading. I traveled to Varanasi, India a year ago to research a book idea as India stole my heart 15 years ago and I’ve studied it passionately since then. A few weeks ago I had a wonderful trip to Rwanda and now that country rivals India for my heart so I’m returning this summer and expect to have a project develop out of that as well.
The Varanasi project took a different direction and I’ll revisit the original concept sometime later, I’m sure. I ended up writing a treatise on grief and loss that was inspired by the visit to that most holy city in Hinduism, a place whose culture revolves around the cycle of life and rebirth; Hindus don’t fixate on death for the soul is forever in a cycle of rebirth until it has learned all it is meant to on this earth. The obstacle in “putting it out there” was that there were three families here in my life who suffered horrible losses and I included them in the story and wanted all their approvals before making it public or submitting to a contest. I did eventually send it to all of them and it was met not only with approval but resounding thanks, with them all saying it was a gift to have been included in the experience. So, it is now on my blog and I hope to expound upon it into a larger volume. Undoubtedly, Rwanda’s genocide will be woven into it as well.
Thank you again for your motivating posts!
Hi sahityalikhna
Thanks for your comments and for telling me about your projects. The Varanasi project, especially, sounds like a special gift–to the families you mention, but also to the world.
You are welcome. I’m so glad you are enjoying my posts.
Keep writing!
Warmly,
Diane
I love your post. I’ll check your blog and hope I can find the article. Sometimes our articles are like our children and we’re afraid to let them out into the world. For instance, I wrote a piece titled “Trapped in ICU”–it was about my husband’s 60 day hospital stay. My cousin suggested i share it with a nursing school and I have done so. One nurse was using parts of it to obtain her Masters Degree–and told me she read it with kleenex in hand. It feels good to know it might reach and/or touch someone else.
Hi saranell,
Thanks for your comments and your kind words. How wonderful that someone is using your words to educate herself. We just never know where are words will go, or who they will touch, do we?
What article are you looking for on my blog? Maybe I can point you in the right direction.
My dad and my uncle were in the ICU last year for weeks (at the same time) and I’m just starting to get to the point where I can write about it. I want to be able to come from a “clean” place when I write, and it’s taking me a while to get there!
Keep writing!
Warmly,
Diane
Congratulations! I loved what you said about your reader’s reactions being none of your business. You’ve done your part by putting a piece of yourself “out there.” I’m looking forward to the day when I can make the same claim.
Hi Deb,
Thanks for your kind words. I have no control over what people think about what I write, so it helps if I just say, “none of my business.” Otherwise, I’d never write (or post, or submit) anything!
So, as an ex-Yankee, are you over here on NHWN because you miss New England?
Good luck with your writing!
Warmly,
Diane
What a lot of work to put into one story. Thanks for sharing this.
Hi thekatechronicles,
I remember reading a book about essay writing and the author went into detail about how long (days, weeks, years) he spent on one essay and I was like “I could never do that!” Well, I forgot all about that book until I read your comment. I guess I can do that. The part I didn’t get when I read that book was that in between all the writing and rewriting you are continuously learning and getting to be a better writer. So the eighth draft is not something you could have written 3 years ago, even if you could sit at a desk for a week and write draft after draft.
Happy writing!
Warmly,
Diane
I love your second “to do” on the list for today.
“Let go of any attachment to how it will be received. (That’s not my business.)”
I am inspired!
Thanks!
Hi Running in Mommyland,
Love that name! Says it all. I’m a mom and a runner and I definitely feel like I’m “Running in Mommyland” some days!
Thanks for your comments. I try to let go of the stuff I can’t control. Some things I have no control over but I don’t realize it. What a reader (or a contest judge or a publisher) thinks about my story is something I definitely realize I have no control over, so I’ll just quit trying to control it now, and save myself some grief.
Happy writing!
Warmly,
Diane
PS What marathon did you finish? I’ve done 8, and hope to do more. Recent hiatus due to pregnancy, delivery and lack of sleep. Getting better now. (He’s 2 1/2.)
Thanks for the reply! You are my newest hero! A great writer and runner of 8! Fantastic!
I just ran the Tobacco Road here in Raleigh and have signed up for Miami 2013 with a few of my blogger friends! None of us have met, but we’re going to run together. I am very excited!
This has inspired me to dig out my old college short story papers and work on turning them into something I can submit to someone…I really don’t know how to go about all that…but still, I will work on it and find out where to go from there…Thanks for inspiring me and Congrats on your revision! Good Luck!
Hi halley8,
You’re welcome. You never know what gold you’ll find when you dig out your old stuff. I’ve noticed that, even with stuff I’ve written and put away for only a short time. The really old stuff ends up being lousier as far as the craft of writing goes, but content and drama and tension seem to be better than I ever remember. I never throw any drafts away, so I can always go back and “pan for gold.”
I bet you’ll be surprised by how much you have to work with when you re-read those college short stories.
Good luck to you!
Warmly,
Diane
Would you believe this is also my story!! Two weeks ago I saw an ad in the local paper asking for people to submit stories about some aspect of their lives. I pulled out a short story that I wrote close to ten years ago and spent a week tweaking and revising it then I sent it in. Two days later the editor sent email telling me that my story had been selected (and why he had selected it). I was totally over the moon. Having my story published like that is some sort of acknowledgment that I do have something to say. So my things to do is just to write and write and write… Good luck with your own story.
Hi plantain1,
Thanks for sharing your story–very inspiring. And, our stories are similar except that I have only submitted a story–you, on the other hand, are on your way to seeing your work published. Congratulations! Way to go!
Thanks for your good wishes!
Warmly,
Diane
Well done you…and also well done for being proud enough of what you’ve done to share it with us. Sometimes the fear of failure stops us from holding our heads high and saying we are writers and proud of it.
I am in the final finishing stages of a novel. It failed to reach shortlist status in a competition, but that’s ok, because now it’s mine to do what I like with. I have a couple of publishing houses in mind…let’s see what happens.
Best wishes for your own piece…xxx
hi susannecollier,
Good for you for submitting your novel. And then for keeping at it, even after it didn’t win the competition. If my story doesn’t get accepted–which is likely, right?–I’ll either rewrite it or submit it somewhere else, depending on how I feel about it a little further down the road. In the meantime, I’m working on my next project–rewriting a novel I wrote in 2008, but that has only had two very superficial rewrites since. I know I have some major work to do on that novel, but I’m excited to get to it.
Good luck and happy writing!
Warmly,
Diane
that’s great. you’ve put a lot of work into it. concientiously sought feedback. there’s nothing left to do but take a deep breath, and let it fly. good luck
Hi lyndaanning,
Thanks for your comments and your encouragement. That’s right where I’m at–I did the best I could with that story, it’s time to let it go.
Good luck to you, too!
Warmly,
Diane
Best of luck with your submission! You’ve made me think about reworking a short story of mine that I wrote a few years ago. Or perhaps something brand new.
Hi Jennifer,
Thanks for your good wishes. I’m glad you thought of a short story you could rework–so much easier than a blank page. Then again, if you’ve got an idea that’s been rattling around in your head, it might be time to get it down on paper!
Good luck and happy writing!
Warmly,
Diane
Hi Diane, You make a very important point, after we write, edit, sometimes more than we need to, we turn it loose on the world and try not to worrry how it is received. I am a fairly new author, finishing now my #3 and I know I need to learn so much. I love the craft and will just keep plugging away.
Regards,
Linda
Hi Linda,
Thanks for your comments. Making a conscious decision to let go of how my story is received (which is totally out of my control anyway!) was very helpful. It allowed me to feel excited about completing the work and sending it out into the world, rather than worried about if others would like it or not.
I feel the same way you do–I love the craft of writing and I’m going to keep plugging away!
Happy writing!
Warmly,
Diane
Did you post your short story on your blog? If so, I’d love to read it.
Hi saranell,
I didn’t post the short story because it was against the submission guidelines. If I posted it to my blog, the story would be considered published, and the contest and anthology I’ve submitted to (so far) don’t allow that.
Thanks for your interest in the story. Believe me, if I ever do publish it, I will be sure to let you and everyone else here know about it!
Warmly,
Diane
Diane, excellent decision to let your “baby” venture out into the big, wide world–and start gestating a new “baby”. I KNOW you will be very glad you sent that story out!