I wasn’t expecting the feelings I got when I submitted my first piece to a paying market.
What I also wasn’t expecting was the feelings of joy I got from being able to tell people, who have never believed in me, that ‘hey look, I can too do this’.
I’m working on a new piece for a different paying market – where I have a few more words to use. I’m looking forward to it, though my story seems to be a little weird. Though, the market offers promts that you need to use in your story, and mine meets that. The promt for the june submissions is to take the often used science fiction trope of andriods, robots or cyborgs and give it a fresh take. I think I’ve got it, so here we go. (And while these two pieces wouldn’t amount towards much they are combined just over 15% of the cost of my new computer – which I am beginning to need desperately.)
The writing tip on this post is actually pretty simple.
When YOU think your piece is complete – go over it one more time, in a format that you don’t usually use. If you usually only ever handle your work digitally, print it out; if you ususlly edit on paper, read over it on the computer screen. With the difference in how you read it, you should catch any final mistakes. Minor typos, spelling, words accidentally missing, etc. Then, as soon as you’ve fixed the problems, SUBMIT IT – DO NOT WAIT. Submit it right then. Even if it’s 2am, do it. Otherwise, you might get cold feet. You might decide that you don’t like how something is worded. You’ll make the subconcious choice that it could never be ready and then it WILL NEVER GET SUBMITTED.
~A