*flails* I finally did it! This is the first short story of original fiction that I’ve written, polished, and submitted to a literature magazine. I’ve mentioned it a few times on this blog as the suicide story. I’ve also referred to it as Short Story D. I’ve spent several years writing, but it was exclusively fanfiction, which can’t be published. I sent my story to Glimmer Train and will send it to a few others in the next week. The rate of acceptance for this magazine is 1/1000, so the odds are against me. I guess that’s a bit of an understatement XD I’m expecting it to get rejected, but that’s okay. The endpoint for me is becoming a good writer, and I improved so much in the process of writing and editing this story. Although, getting something published would be a nice bonus 🙂
I’d love to post the story or snippets on my blog, but I can’t because the majority of literary magazines want first publishing rights. By posting it to the internet you’ve published it, so most literary magazines won’t accept it. Although I’ve seen some in the past year that have deleted that clause from their submission guidelines. The exception is critique sites that are password locked. Glimmer Train takes blog published fiction, but many others do not, unfortunately.
I spent about a week writing the rough draft of this story and months revising it. I don’t delete anything, so with each revision I just opened a new document. There are 18 drafts XD I’ve never revised something so much. Complicating factors were the non-linear storyline and my rough transition from fanfiction to original fiction.
Now I start work on another short story. I’m not sure if I want to do the one about the little girl with an abusive father or the mother that loses her son and develops a relationship with the little girl that gets his transplanted heart. I’ll probably do the transplanted heart one because I’ve already started that one.
I took a break from blogging because I just had so many things going on in my life. I’ve taken numerous 7 day+ writing/reading hiatuses as well. I might talk about it at a later point in time. I wish my life was more stable, but it’s not and probably never will be. I’m flying to the other side of the country tomorrow to meet up with Dr. Millis, one of the best hip preservation surgeons in the world. It’s looking like my last hip surgery in May 2014 has failed. The surgery wasn’t with Dr. Millis, but I saw him in 2013 and really liked him, so I’m hoping he can help me. I’ve had 3 hip preservation surgeries at this point, so I’m hoping I can hold off on another one for 1-2 years. My right hip is still partially dislocating, which is as painful as it sounds. Did I mention how much I hate my hips XD Wait, I mean hip in the singular sense. The left one had a scope and is behaving quite nicely. My right hip is a factory reject 😦
The Paper Butterfly 
Congrats on finishing and submitting your story! 🙂
Firstly: YAAAAY on submitting! The very first submission is such a great feeling. You’re putting yourself out there, which is the most important thing. And you know what, even if you get rejected, it’ll be your ~VERY FIRST~ shiny sparkly rejection letter. You’ll be in the club!
Secondly: I’m sorry to hear about your hip. 😦 That sounds like such a tough thing to go through. Hopefully this new surgery will be better.
I’m so proud of you for submitting a short story for publication! Keep on writing and putting yourself out there to publishers. Grrrrr about the darn hip. I hope your 2016 is full of much inspiration, love, and prolific writing.
This comment made my day 🙂 This year was a bit of a rollercoaster due to many things, so I wasn’t able to write as much as I wanted to. I’m hoping 2016 is better! Yeah, my right hip sucks. It went out on me twice in December because I did so much walking -_____- I hope you have a great year too!
Hey, haven’t seen you blogging in awhile. How are you?
Hi Monarch! How did your first submission go? Did it get accepted? I felt for you when I read about your hips. My son has had five hip surgeries–the first two factory rejects which should have been off the shelf; the second two, replaced with new parts (one of the first began squeaking so much you could hear him walking across the floor! The fifth was dislocated so badly there was tissue and muscle repair too. He’s only 40, and works independently. There was no compensation for all the months out of work after each one, and that’s murderous on our savings! But, that’s what it’s for, I guess. I write too, but I’m always changing, changing, changing things and never get them submitted. Some, especially poetry, are decent. But alas, we get shy and hold ourselves back sometimes, don’t we? Good luck to you as you spread your wings!