Final Blog Post

            I can’t believe it’s been almost a year since my mentor and I discussed the idea of a creative writing Signature project. My essential question at the beginning of the project was ‘what is required to get a short story published?’. I learned that publishing a short story requires a lot of time, including time to write, to revise, and to research publishing opportunities. It also requires a great amount of attention to detail, both while revising and organizing the stories into the correct format for publication. Deadlines are also very helpful or else I’m sure I never would have sent anything out for publication. I don’t know if rejection, which was one of the challenges I faced, is required for publication but I do believe it is an integrated part of the writing process.

            My proudest moment from this project was definitely Triangle Open Mic Night. I didn’t think the Open Mic Night would play a huge role in my project but it became an excellent capstone to my project. I put a lot of work into organizing the night, so to have so many people show up and participate, especially on the spot, was absolutely amazing. Aside from forgetting my cards to hand out, my actual presentation went well. I slowed down enough that people heard my story, which was my main concern before the presentation.

            I would advise future Signature students to, first and foremost, find an on-campus mentor who they know they can work with. My project’s success depends largely on my mentor, who guided me through the revision process, helped me set deadlines for publication, and encouraged and aided in the organization of the Open Mic Night. I knew her from previous independent projects, which was very helpful because we had an established relationship. Secondly, creating a set of guidelines for both the student and the mentor was really helpful. My mentor and I had a system where I had a set amount of work to finish before the school year started and then each time we met, we came up with the next ‘assignment’. I had one ‘free bee’ where I could miss an assignment, but if I missed more than one, we would call the project off. This not only kept me on track but also served to keep open lines of communication between my mentor and myself.