Purpose: To share and encourage. Writers can
express doubts and concerns without fear of appearing foolish or weak. Those
who have been through the fire can offer assistance and guidance. It’s a safe
haven for insecure writers of all kinds!
You can still join! Just go sign up and post about your insecurities.
Sylvia Plath said, "The worst enemy to creativity is self-doubt." Yet we creatives are constantly doubting ourselves. We'll never be without our insecurities, but we can continue pushing through them to write, to submit, to publish. Don't let your insecurities pull you down. Keep writing and keep getting your work out there, however you choose. It's the only way to make your writing dreams a reality.
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| Author Harper Rose Memes |
As part of my monthly IWSG post, I like to recap my submission stats for the month to keep myself honest.
In September, my stats were as follows:
6 short pieces submitted
1 short story acceptance (into an anthology, publication date TBA)
7 rejections
10 pieces currently on submission
3 pieces awaiting revision
Don't forget about the Insecure Writer's Support Group Anthology Contest! The deadline is November 1. Find more details HERE.
Each Wednesday I post links for writers. Onward! Please bear in mind that I am not endorsing any of these links, merely passing them along. Always do your own due diligence before submitting to a contest or publication.
Accepting Submissions:
Milkfist is seeking short stories, flash fiction, art, poetry, and nonfiction. Payment is token, and varies depending upon submission type. $5 to $30.
The Quip is seeking stories of all lengths and types. They are a comedic literary magazine. Up to 3500 words. Pays $50 and a yearly subscription.
Heck Magazine is seeking writing and artwork of all sorts. No strict restrictions. Pay is not specified, but it is a paying publication.
Capricious is seeking short fiction and and essays. Speculative fiction. 3000-5000 words. Pays a flat rate of $50.
Punchnel's is seeking short fiction, essays, poetry, multi-media, and more. They pay a flat rate of $10. Restricts vary depending upon submission type.
In Short Publishing Company is seeking genre fiction. 3000-4500 words. Pays in ongoing royalties.
Duckbill is seeking flash fiction and poetry. Up to 800 words for flash. Pays a flat rate of $5.
Blue Monday Review is seeking short works, flash, poetry, and artwork. Up to 3500 words for short works. Pays $.02/word for short works, with pay on other types of submissions varying.
The Dark City is seeking mysteries and crime stories. 1000-7500 words. Pays a flat rate of $25.
Sub-saharan Magazine is seeking short stories, flash fiction, poetry, and artwork. They want stories featuring African characters and speculative elements. Up to 2000 words. Pay is $.01/word up to 1000 words, with varying flat rates beyond that.
What are your insecurities? How are you doing with submissions? Are you submitting? What inspires you? Are any of the markets of interest? Do you have experience with any of them? Any news to share?
May you find your Muse.
122 comments:
Congratulations on the short story acceptance!
In that graphic, switch the editing and writing ones around and that's me.
Thanks again for co-hosting this month.
Yeh on the acceptance! I've got a story coming out in an anthology later this month - a longer piece for me - and I'm excited to share it. :)
Congrats on the short story. Jack Sparrow's expression made my day.
Susan Says
Congrats on the short story. And I love your chart. Ah, is it too early for stage 4?
Thanks for posting all those links. I'd like to branch out and try some new venues for my short stories. Right now I'm working with a small publisher to put them on amazon, but marketing is tough. Shocking, I know.
Congrats on your accomplishments this past month!
I love that use of Captain Jack Sparrow! Brilliant, and so true.
A wonderful list of markets, thank you! And congrats on the short story :)
I wish I had news to share. It's nice to see all the short story subs available. SS certainly aren't easy to write. Not for us long-winded writers. Thanks for co-hosting Shannon!
Hey Shannon, thanks for the market list. Currently I'm editing submissions to an anthology I am author of, so a different side of the coin. I have a couple of things (okay, about 9) out for consideration with two already been accepted and awaiting edits from them. After a few deadlines are met this month and next, I plan to focus on more short stories/poetry and submit them. Thanks for co-hosting!
I'm always awed by writers who can juggle so many projects. Wow.
Self-Doubt...yes I do believe I have a triple-helping of that. *sigh*
Most excellent links. Thank you.
And thank you for hosting this month.
Author of Wilder Mage at Spirit Called
Facebook Wilder Mage
First, I need to finish something to submit. I have major anxiety when I get close to finishing something, which makes me put it down (and sometimes never pick it back up). I love, love, love that Jack Sparrow writer's face haha
Congrats on your short story acceptance!!
- Madilyn Quinn @ NovelBrews
Good luck on all your submissions and congrats on the acceptance!
Here from Alex's blog. Yes, that old self doubt gremlin tends to sneak up on me a lot. That's when the self-talk knight in shining armor leaps to the rescue, LOL. Admittedly, sometimes he takes a while to save the day. Great post, very informative. Love this blog. I'm now following. .
Sylvia Plath couldn’t have said it better. Self-doubt is indeed the worst enemy, but funny how it always plagues us. Kind of like ‘keep your friends close, but your enemies closer.’ On the submission side, I’ve made a few but I’m still waiting on the results. Keeping fingers crossed. I also found a few more places to submit to in the future, thanks to Newpages.com. Congrats on your short-story and thanks for co-hosting!
Thanks for cohosting this month! Also, the list of places to submit was very interesting. Thanks for posting it. That meme is AWESOME and so right on. You sound very busy, so good luck with it all!
Perfect message for me to hear this month. This is what my post was about, the fact that I find my writing crap these days. Ha. Thanks for the pick-me-up. And thanks for co-hosting.
Great hostessing job! And Sylvia was right; we just have to keep those doubts at bay and push on
Hi,
I love your postings and I am always encouraged. Congratulations on co-hosting.
After the writer's workshop that I attended, I am now getting back into submitting my short stories once more.
Shalom,
Patricia
Thanks for co-hosting! Fighting those insecurities is a constant battle. Congrats on your story acceptance and good luck with your submissions!
I suppose it's good to have a set of goals for the month. I should really do that. I like your list submission links. This dwells on what I think my next month insecurity article will be about. Where to start looking to get published?
I haven't got over the self doubt, but I've got a lot better at submitting stuff anyway.
Thanks for hosting this month, Shannon. You have been very busy. I like your list of what you've done. You are so right about self-doubt. That really drags us down, doesn't it?
Best wishes,
Diane
IWSG #94
WOW! Thanks for all these submission ideas. It appears, I should get back on track with that. Currently, I've devoted most of my time to polishing up my YA Manuscript. But maybe I need to submit and create something shorter again. I also appreciate you sharing your stats. It makes the process of writing more human. ~Erika
October 13th is the day 'my' publisher will advise me of their decision to publish, or not publish, Forbidden. Trying to be cool and not check my emails six times a day. Trying to anticipate what will I do if the answer is no, what is my next step. Picturing myself pragmatic, disciplined, mature with the disappointment. And yet, I can't help seeing a happy dance and wild singing with the positive "Yes, we'd love to publish Forbidden." I can't help putting my energy into the positive, as if that will sway the universe, and therefore, create the success for Forbidden. Thanks for always posting your wonderful and helping information. Much appreciated. Blessings
As long as you keep writing and submitting, good things will happen. Seems like you're keeping yourself pretty busy.
Thanks for co-hosting this month's IWSG!
My biggest insecurity is my grammar blockage. I can't learn it to where I don't screw it up - consistently! But, I still press on. It makes me feel like the biggest dunce in the world, but I have stories to tell, and I'll pay someone else to fix my errors, and yet even publishing a blog or a comment, here, on FB or twitter leaves me anxious. I hate the grammar police - and ignore them the best I can - I know I have a problem, I'm dealing with it, but damn the amount of stress over it sometimes just makes me want to go away, change my name, and never do any of this again! Yeah, that's my insecurity - up front and in everyone's face. UGLY!
Self doubt is a choice.
Yay! Another acceptance! I like those. See, you are a prime example of putting yourself out there. People never succeed who never try.
Thank you for co-hosting IWSG today, Shannon. Your list of submissions is incentive for me to more actively promote my own work. Congrats to you for all your hard work and for the many works accepted in September.
Thanks for co-hosting the IWSG today, Shannon! Sometimes I think self-doubts and insecurities makes us able to understand others better. Thanks for the submissions list ~ very helpful! Have a good one!
Thanks for co-hosting! We writers are prone to doubts, for sure! I only write novels, not short stories, but it's encouraging that there are so many opportunities out there.
Thank you so much for co-hosting. Congratulations on your acceptance. I'm one of those writers who's guilty of self-doubt. I like the Jack Sparrow faces. Funny, but true:) All the best with your submissions!
Thanks you for being a co-host! I'm currently submitting a novel. Have had requests for fulls, requests for partials that turned into fulls, and requests for partial that did not follow up for more...and of course, rejections and/or dead air. The whole thing kind of drains the life out of me. I know the answer is to write, but I'm struggling with that, too! Things will improve, I suppose...
Congrats on your accepted story. Thanks a lot for your market list. I need it. Just subscribed to your blog to get them regularly.
Thanks for co-hosting, Shannon! And congrats on your accepted story.
I think being fickle is a problem, too. I have sooooo many unfinished stories right now. I get an idea and I'm off on that one. I'm driving myself NUTS.
I haven't tried the drinking phase of writing yet; wonder if it would help?
Congratulations on you short fiction acceptance and thanks for co-hosting this month.
Hmm...Your post makes me want to try short stories again. Your output is commendable too. Thanks for co-hosting this month!
Congrats on your short story being accepted!!! Thats a plus!!! Yes, self doubt hit us all. We just need to rise above it. I know it's easier said than done.
I just skip to the drinking phase:) Hope you're taking those mad writing skills to the WEP Halloween challenge! I'll be providing the scary soundtrack *Muwahaha*
Something Wicked This Way Comes
Wow - you have a lot out! Congrats on the one short. I'm sure more will follow. Everything takes so much patience.
Thanks for co-hosting. Impressive submission, No none out, but two rejections.
Juneta Writer's Gambit
You go, girl. I'm like "yesssss I wrote a short story... I'll edit it next month." I need to be more motivated like you. And thanks for the awesome list!
Love those writing faces :)
I've had a whole bunch of rejections these last few weeks and then somehow I missed an acceptance in my e-mail a few days ago and found it tonight.
I think I still have 9 stories out on sub, and I have four that are waiting for a re-sub.
Thanks for the links!!!
Thank you for sharing your stats, the links, and our favorite swashbuckling Johnny Depp. I appreciate the advice you left on my post. Look forward to following you here. Cheers! -A
Wow, congrats on the acceptances AND the rejections. Both say you're moving forward. I submitted to a few contests this month AND for a chance at a big publishing contract.
It's hard to write with all my fingers crossed!
Thanks for co-hosting. I'm impressed with your outlook and dedication. Thanks for sharing so many links. I write novels like a few of the others who've commented, but the advise applies the same, we have to get over our insecurities and get our work out there. I'm also in the same boat with Madilyn Quinn, I have to finish something before I can submit. At least, I have learned a tremendous amount since I began blogging and I am close to submitting and by the time I am ready to submit, I will also have another novel close to submitting. I never stopped writing while I was learning. So while waiting for word from my editor on one I'm revising another. I'm finally learning the ropes and no longer have all my eggs in one basket, pardon the horrible cliche. Enjoyed your post. Thanks. Best of luck on the ten pieces you have out on submission and congratulations on the piece that was selected.
You have great stats and I have no stats.
Huh. I'm doing something wrong. :)
Thanks for the push.
Thanks for co-hosting this month.
Heather
Haha! I saw this image on FB. Too funny and too perfect! Self-doubt is a killer. Totally. Too often I fall to it's lure. When that happens, I try to recall something I've done well. It can be small or big. Frankly, it's the small accomplishments that end up meaning more to me than anything. Because each is usually a piece of a larger accomplishment. Hindsight is awesome, isn't it?
Congrats on your acceptance and good luck with the rest of your submissions! Self-doubt can be crippling. That's when one gets to phase 4, whether it consists of drinking or eating too many sweets. Some insecurities are good as long as we can keep going through them.
Those are great numbers for submissions! I hope you get more accepted. :)
Thanks for co-hosting.
Thanks for co-hosting this month! I am working on my submission for the IWSG anthology. I love the Jack Sparrow phases, lol :)
Congratulations on your submissions. May you have even more acceptances. One of my insecurities is doing the edits right. I don't have anything submitted at the moment. Working on a couple of stories. Thanks for co-hosting today.
Love the meme.
Massive congratulations on snagging that acceptance! I look forward to more info on the anthology.
Also, I believe Uncanny Magazine is open to subs for a little bit longer this year, paying very good rates for F & SF.
Congrats on your short story acceptance! Yay!
Submissions? I'm a bit flat at the moment... really need to get up and get moving...
Thanks for co-hosting the IWSG this month, Shannon!
I actually thought that when I saw it, Alex. You're one of the few people I know of who like the revisions better than the writing!
Congratulations! We're working this thing.
A view of Jack Sparrow will always make my day. ;)
It's never too early for Stage 4.
Are you doing a collection or each one individually through the publisher?
These are always amusing. I've seen some others, too, but this one was my favorite.
I think I prefer short stories so much that I've developed a natural arc in my writing so I no longer write too much.
Good luck with the editing and then getting aback out there with submissions!
I'm awed by the folks writing a bunch of novels and series as once. I can only focus on one novel at a time, it seems, but I can write as many short stories as I want.
We're putting so much of ourselves out there that it's hard not to have self-doubt.
I tend to have more trouble writing the endings and wrapping everything up than with the rest of it. Good luck!
Thank you!
Thanks, Andrea. We all need a self-talk knight in shining armor! I like that.
I haven't heard of Newpages.com. Thanks for mentioning it. And good luck with those submissions!
I need to get back on top of writing. May have to add a "words written" to this each month if I don't get my booty in gear.
I think the vast majority of us go through those phases. "What is this thing I just put on my computer? Gurk!" Good luck getting back into it.
Exactly! We can't stop them from happening, but we can work to get past them.
So glad you're submitting! Good luck.
Thank you! It is definitely an ongoing battle.
Short stories or novels? Duotrope is a good resource for either, but it costs money. Submission Grinder is similar and free. Good luck!
That's all you can do. Push through and get your work out there, anyway. Good luck!
It definitely does. And congratulations on IWSG #94!
That's my hope. That seeing how many rejections I get and how many times I have to submit before I actually get an acceptance helps someone else keep trying. Good luck with polishing. That's important, too! My Fridays are set aside for revisions on my novel.
I hope you get good news! I'd be hard pressed not to be stalking my email, too. Who am I kidding? I already do!
You can't get published if you don't submit (or self publish), right? I need to be busier with it, but I am at least doing something in the meantime.
You know, I think grammar is like math in that people either automatically take to it or they have to always work at it. I aced college math, but I don't have a mathematical brain, and it was all-encompassing for me to study, study, study and work at it. If grammar doesn't come naturally to you, it doesn't. Don't let people make you feel bad about it. (Even grammar nazis like myself.)
I wouldn't agree with that. I'd say you feel what you feel, but that it is your choice how you deal with it and if you entertain it or squash it.
I love a good acceptance! Heck, I love a good rejection if there's hope in it.
Thank you, Gail! Good luck with promotion.
I think it can help us understand others a lot when we remind ourselves that the awful things we're feeling are being felt by people all around us, too.
Good luck with your novel writing! I write more short stories, but need to get back to my novels.
True for everyone but Alex, who loves revisions. :p I don't see how we can't have self-doubt when we're showing our creations to others.
I hope you find the right person for your novel soon! It sounds like there's a lot of interest, which means you've got something compelling. How exciting! I can't blame you for feeling drained by it all, either. Even just with the short stories, if I don't get an acceptance for one I really wanted or when a favorite keeps getting rejected or if I get too many rejections all close together, it really takes it out of me. Today is actually one of those days. Three rejections in a row, one of them for a publication I really thought I had.
I hope you find something helpful in the future market lists, Olga! Good luck with submissions.
Thank you!
I have several as well, Shelly, that I've set aside for ages and really need to finish. There must be something wrong with the ones I'm thinking of, because when I sit down to finish them I'm just not feeling it. Need to scrap them and start over.
I hear it helps some folks. Maybe I should try it, too?
I enjoy short stories so much, sometimes I start to think I should just stick with them and skip the novels. But then my novels call to me, and I know it's not true!
Not sure I'd still be able to keep going if I hadn't started getting some acceptances sprinkled in there. The self-doubt can be strong in this one!
I'm undecided on the WEP challenge. Need to decide soon! A soundtrack to boot? Hm. Even more incentive.
Yes, patience, definitely. Sometimes I have it and sometimes I don't. Especially when I'm overdue for a response on a story!
Two rejections is still awesome. It means you're submitting. I hope you get those ones turned around fast.
Don't let the stats fool you. I've got several stories sitting there waiting to be edited and I am dragging my feet. Good luck to you!
They're great, aren't they?
There's nothing better than finding a missed acceptance! (As long as you find it on time.) I found one in my spam one time and have checked it religiously ever since. Congratulations! Fantastic stats. Keep it going!
A little Johnny Depp certainly never hurt anyone's day, right?
Oh man, and your toes too? I'll cross my eyes for you. But seriously, how exciting! Good luck!
It's that kind of motivation - writing, writing, writing - that will bring you success. I wish you a ton of luck as you move forward.
LOL. Let's both push and have phenomena stats!
Too true about finding a fit for the story. I can get a rejection from an editor then have the very next one love it. It's all down to their taste, and the luck of finding that right person.
Oh yes, hindsight for the win. That's a great way to cope. Wonderful way of looking at it. I hadn't thought about the small accomplishments meaning more and adding up to the bigger ones, but you're absolutely right.
I'm far more inclined to down chocolate and ice cream than alcohol any time. I still have more self-doubt around my novels than my short stories, but I think that's just because I haven't gotten my novels out there yet. Revise, revise, revise.
Me, too! Thank you!
I need to hurry up and decide if I'm doing that and get my submission going, too! Good luck.
Good luck getting those stories finished and on submission!
I thought it was good for a little amusement and maybe even a little inspiration.
I really need to get on my fantasy and sf stories so I can start getting those out, too.
Here's to getting up and moving. But you've been doing great!
Never thought of it that way. Great idea.
You've been busy! That's awesome. When I finally got serious about finding an agent, I made a spreadsheet and set a goal to query a certain number a month. Within a year or so of doing that, I landed my agent. I had to force myself to get up off my butt and do something!
Never give up! :) You're doing great with getting out there. I'm doing better at that this year than last. I just need to find time to write new short fiction.
Hey Shannon,
The really positive aspect to all of this is the acceptance of your short story. Well done and your resolve is to be admired.
I'm not insecure about my writing. Then again, if somebody doesn't like my writing, so be it. I'm writing for the therapy and the sharing of thoughts.
Have a lovely Sunday.
Gary :)
Amazing stats. Yay on the acceptance. We must push through our doubts.
What a great month!! Wishing you a fantastic October and luck with your outstanding submissions.
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