Testing the Waters

Around the end of June, I decided to dip my toe into the waters of submission (and possible rejection). I had been working on several short stories and I decided to enter them to several journals and in a contest. They are highly diverse and different in subject matter but the genre of sci-fi is still in the midst.

As a person coming from academia, journal submission are something that I am very familiar with, particularly those that are peer-reviewed. I understand the vetting and rejection process of journal articles. I've had a couple rejected as a PhD student (hence my utter frustration with the ivory tower of literature).  However, I've never entered my creative work in a journal whose reach is beyond my college literature magazine or a small-town paper.

The contests was a new experience altogether. In my research, I looked at several contests with emphasis on contests in which I knew that writers whom I admired in the field actually had won or been contestants . I had missed the deadline for the annual Writer's Digest contest.  I put that in the "big fish" category of contests. The first contest I entered was the L. Ron Hubbard (Yes, the L. Ron of Scientology fame)  Writers of the Future contest. There was no entry fee (which was nice) and it focused on those writers who had not been published before. Nnedi Okafor had won this contest and now served as a judge for writers. I found that comforting to know.

I think the idea that my work is going to be subjected to scrutiny is very terrifying. Creative works are highly personal. You pour so much into the research, the character development and the plot that the idea of handing it over to someone who will read it is really scary. It equate it to handing my baby  over to the daycare worker on her first day of daycare. I instantly burst into tears. And such is the case with a written piece of work that you put your blood, sweat and tears into.

But... in the end... you cannot go into this process with fear. It is the unknown. And although I am sure rejections will happen and feedback will be harsh, it can only make me a better writer. It will make my skin tougher for the query process, editor reviews, and finally publication.  Do you know JK Rowling had 12 rejections from publishers before someone finally decided to publish Harry Potter? It's ok to be rejected. It makes you a better writer.

That being said, I am looking forward to the feedback I get from journals and contests, postive or negative.