Why Publish

I've been thinking about this idea of publication and why it's such a popular idea among writers. I made a point in one of my blogs how writing for yourself is important, which is true, but ironic, because many writers are writing for an audience. That knowledge, that someone else will read their words, changes the writing, no matter how much a writer tries to 'write for themselves'. I think the only truly authentic writing may be what we put in our diaries and other places we think no one will see. This isn't a necessarily a bad thing either. Knowing there will be an audience puts pressure on a writer to make their words more accessible, cohesive, and just generally better.
But why do so many people want to get published? There's obviously a certain ego-factor, of testing your writing against the big bad publishing world, but there must something about the idea of other people reading your writing that is enticing. I included publishing in this project because it was something I had never done before and I wanted to try it under some guidance before I was older and without the opportunity to access the resources my Signature project provides. But still, the idea of publishing is enticing to me, even if I don't know entirely why.

Next Steps

I met with my mentor on Tuesday and we discussed what to do during this 'wait time'. Some of the places I submitted work to will respond fairly 'quickly' (2 months), others will take much longer (6 months). It's a little frustrating because I want to know the results right now, but I also think this 'wait time' will be interesting as I can be flexible with what I want to do.
My mentor and I decided that looking into contests I can enter my work into would be a good next step. I will begin researching once the semester ends (8 days until Revels!!!) and return from winter break with a list of possibilities, much as I did while looking for literary magazines. What I think will be interesting about contests is if they have more narrow requirements-theme, line, etc.-than literary magazines and how I will work around that.

Thoughts on Revisions

Instinctively, my deadline makes me nervous, especially when I'm revising the final drafts of my work because I feel like every detail has to be perfect so the reader can understand and enjoy the story. I struggled a lot with the idea of ever getting the story ready enough to actually publish. To me, a story is never really finished because there's always something left to adjust, some detail to correct, the necessity of a particular word to consider. I worried a lot about the reader's perspective on the story and if people would like it and if it would ever get accepted somewhere.
Before submitting my stories, I concluded that my original idea isn't necessarily wrong. I'm not sure a story is ever really finished. If I read through the story I submitted for publication the other day, I would probably find something to change. But I also realized that the perfect story in my head won't necessarily match the perfect story in an editor or reader's head. Phrases I find smooth and understandable might seem stilted or confusing to someone else. So, while early revisions should be geared more toward considering the reader's perspective and making sure the message of the story comes across, I think final revisions should focus more on what the writer wants. Because, ultimately, the story belongs to the writer so that's the person it has to please. Making the story enjoyable for myself probably means other people will like it as well, but, more importantly, it gives me a piece of writing I can be proud of.

Submitting

I've officially submitted one story to Glimmertrain magazine, One Teen Story, and Canvas Teen Literary Journal. I still have a couple more places to submit to but my December 8 deadline isn't quite so terrifying anymore. Narrowing down the list to about 8 magazines involved trying estimate my chances of my writing being accepted at each magazine and, similar to the college process, finding safety, possible, and reach magazines that would fit my work.
Thankfully, there is a surprising amount of information on the Internet about submitting short stories. I researched everything from where to submit to how to write a cover letter for this project and was surprised by the sheer amount of information. There were multiple websites to read for almost everything I looked up. It makes sense considering how many people attempt to publish short stories but the topic also seems like such a small niche that I expected much less information. Thankfully, I was wrong.

December 8 Deadline and Growing Possibilities

     My plan to narrow my list of possible magazines down to five or six possibilities failed. I now have even more options after broadening my search to include magazines specifically interested in high school writers. I plan to contact a former teacher of mine who is more intimately familiar with the publishing process and see if she can help me wade through my list. I know once I have a slimmer list, I will still have a lot of research to do, including reading past publications and figuring out what each magazine wants from submission. Certain ones want cover letters, others only accept email submissions, others require a fee, etc. My Excel chart of all the information about each magazine is growing more complicated everyday. 

     I met with my mentor yesterday and we have decided that I will send everything out by December 8. A deadline for submission is daunting, but exciting. My stories look good, though I need to spend some more time adding finishing touches, but the bulk of my work from here on out will be narrowing down my list of possible magazines and organizing the actual submission itself.

Here is a short annotated bibliography of some of the resources I ultimately found:

Boulevard: The finest fiction, poetry, and essays since 1985. Boulevard. Web. 29 Oct. 2015.

• This is an online and print literary magazine, recommended to me by The Write Life article below.
• It publishes well-known authors, but is also very interested in unpublished writers as well.  

Gurnett, Kelly. Where to Submit Short Stories: 25 Magazines and Websites that Want Your Work. The Write  

Life, 22 May, 2015. Web. 22 Oct, 2015.

• This article gave a list of 25 literary magazines that are open to short story submissions.
• In addition to the name of a magazine, it listed some of the components of a story each magazine is interested, word count, and the submission deadline.  

Francis, Scott. How to Get a Short Story Published Like a Pro. Writer’s Digest, 31 Jan 2012. Web. 29 Oct. 

2015.

• This article from Writer's Digest, a popular website for writers of all kinds, gives important advice on how to get a short story published.
• It also provided links to more detailed information on cover letters and proper formatting.

How (& Where) to Get a Short Story Published. Writer’s Digest, 6 Nov. 2012. Print. 26 Oct. 2015.

• Another Writer’s Digest article similar to the one above.
• This article also goes into the different options for short story publishing, such as literary magazines, both print and online, short story collections, or themed-anthologies.

Polyphony H.S.. Polyphony H.S., 2008. Web. 9 Oct, 2015.

• This is an online literary magazine for high school students, recommended to me by my mentor.
• This magazine is particularly helpful because it is meant for high school writers and gives clear requirements on what it expects from my writing

Resources and Next Steps

     At my last meeting with my mentor, we continued to go over some of my stories. We also decided that I should start researching possible outlets for publication. Being the resourceful student that I am, I hopped onto Google and searched ‘places to publish short stories’.  I always assumed short stories were published solely in literary magazines, but after reading several articles, I realized there were several other options, such as publishing a short-story collection or submitting to an anthology. However, I still think submitting to a literary magazine is the best option for me.

     I found several articles providing tips on how to submit, such as reading old copies of the magazines and making sure to follow the submission guidelines. I also discovered several websites listing literary magazines looking for submissions, as well as their preferred genre and word count. At the moment, I have over 20 different options, so my plan for the weekend is to narrow the list down to five or six by reading old issues of each magazine and figuring out which ones best suits my writing. 

Second Meeting (9/29/15)

     My second meeting today with my mentor was very informative and helpful. We went through two of my stories and discussed different aspects that needed clarification or help in general. We also discussed striking a balance between creating an ambiguous ending, one that makes the reader work harder than necessary to derive a meaning out of a story, and explicitly stating that point at the end of a story. In a way, it comes back to the age-old writing advice of ‘show, don’t tell’.  In two weeks, we will meet again to go over the revisions of my original story as well as revisions of one of the stories we worked on today.

     Something that I really appreciated was a trend she noticed in my writing. Sometimes I add too many details into a sentence and until today, I didn’t realize how awkward that makes a sentence for a reader to digest. Also, slowing a story down with excessive details creates frustration in a reader who wants to know how a story turns out. By only keeping the truly necessary details that help move the story forward, I will, hopefully, provide readers with a better-paced story. It’s these kinds of edits/revisions that make me very excited about this project. We focus a lot on the story as a whole and the effect it will have on a reader, which makes me look at my writing and what it needs to do to function well from a new perspective.  

Summer and First Meeting

After a summer spent in the library and Starbucks, I have four complete short stories. One of them underwent heavy revision at Juniper Young Writer's Institute where I submitted the piece for my 'pod' (a group of about 8 teenage writers) to edit. Their feedback, along with my writing teacher, an MFA student named Jane, was very helpful and inspired me to write a prequel to the story as well as make revisions within the original story itself. The other three stories have only been read by myself and need a lot of work, but I am sure myself and my wonderful mentor will be up to the task.

This summer gave me a much-needed opportunity to basically force myself to write a certain number of stories, which was really helpful because now I have a large volume of writing to work with. The sheer number of hours spent writing helped me to solidify what people refer to as a ‘writing process’, something I never really understood before. For example, I write much better if I’m not at home. The library in particular worked well for me, because of the quiet and seclusion. However, Starbucks’ offer of caffeine was also quite useful. I also really can’t write unless I’m sitting at a table. I’ve tried writing with my laptop in my lap, but for whatever reason, I find myself getting distracted very easily. Finally, I have to listen to music. It doesn’t matter what type of music, but it has to be there.

My mentor and I met last week and decided to meet again in two weeks. In the meantime, I will send her my first story with a list of aspects about the story I am concerned about. This will give her something specific to concentrate on while reading my piece as well as provide me with helpful feedback. My personal hope is that we’ll be able to focus more on the story as a whole and its effect on the reader.