Sending words into the world
If writers want to be published, we have to submit work. And yet sending out work is one of the most challenging aspects of writing. I've been submitting work for six years (writing for longer), and I still find it hard to do. Sometimes I'm tempted to avoid it. After all (I tell myself )—statistically, rejection is the most likely result. I recently submitted something I've spent a lot of time on, and sending it triggered all the usual crazy, mixed feelings. I thought I'd try to order my thoughts, in case this helps another writer. Reflections on submitting:
It must be done. If we want to share our writing with others, there's no escaping this. Yet submitting can be terrifying. We have to steel ourselves and send our work anyway. (We may not want to send our very first efforts. But if a writer has been creating work for more than a year, and wants to be published, it's probably time to start submitting!)
Timing is everything. Too early and our work is clumsy, full of holes, rough around the edges. Too late and we may fall behind, not make deadlines, or put off submitting forever. How to tell if it's too early or too late? No one seems to know! We make our best guess and then send.
It's normal to feel strange emotions after sending. I often feel uneasy. Sometimes I feel hopeful (tempered with common sense—this submission may not be successful, but the next one may be). You may feel a whole range of other emotions. (To avoid feeling overwhelming regret, my advice is to avoid looking at your submitted piece or manuscript after sending. Whenever I do this, I find something I hate!)
Multiple submissions make sense (if allowed). Some journals hang on to work for months, even years. I once had a story with a US literary journal for 14 months, and I've heard tales of much longer waits. If the journal or competition allows simultaneous submissions, it's worth improving the odds by submitting to at least one other market (in my opinion).
Destinations are important. Except in the case of a freaky genius, it's probably best to send the first submitted poem to a smaller magazine, rather than the Paris Review. There's no point sending a sci-fi/Western story to a snooty literary magazine that doesn't publish genre fiction. And it may be unwise to send a literary novel manuscript to an agent who specialises in fantasy and YA. Choosing where we send our words improves the chance of being chosen.
I'm sure there are other aspects to submitting I haven't considered. After all, I write short fiction only.I'd love to hear your thoughts.