The Write Stuff
Sep. 4th, 2007 03:52 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
morrigirlLast week, I found this fabulous quote on a random blog.
Becoming a published writer is sort of like trying to find a cheap apartment in New York City: it's impossible. And yet...every single day, somebody manages to find a cheap apartment in New York City. - Elizabeth Gilbert
I love that, particularly since it employs an analogy I can totally wrap my head around.
I've actually been doing a lot of research into publishing opportunities as of late and I am absolutely stunned by the sheer number of them. There are so many legitimate ways to get your work published. For years I thought the big publishers like Simon & Schuster and HarperCollins were the only game in town, and that the only literary magazines in existance were the big ones like Ploughshares and The Paris Review. But they're not! There are SO MANY independent presses who regularly read and publish unsolicited manuscripts. Tons! And new literary magazines are popping up every other day, both online and in print. It's astounding. It makes me think that there must be a market for my particular brand of writing. And even if there isn't right now, there might be tomorrow.
Tomorrow I'll be submitting three poems to a poetry contest. I'm not going to win. I'm not even going to get an honorable mention, but I need to get my work out there. I need to get people behind the scenes to start reading and evaluating it. I need to get comfortable with the process of submission. Ideally, I would like to have at least one piece being evaluated at any given time. Even when I am sitting at home watching reruns of Law & Order I want to know that my words are out there trying to get themselves into print.
And speaking of words in print, this month's issue of the Knox Magazine informed me that closet hottie Tom Rohn has been publishing through Lulu.com. His short story collection Box of Pox and his dramatic collection Five Plays, which includes the full script of "Zombies! The Musical!" and "Medieval" are currently availible, and I think I may just have to purchase them. After all, you should always support the (nice) Knox alums! The mean ones can toil forever in obscurity.
Oh, and on a completely unrelated note, the IHOP on Boston and Mathews is finally open and Greg and I went and had dinner thater Sunday night. I'd never been to an IHOP before. All I have to say is chocolate chip pancakes are now and will ever remain one of the most decadent treats on the planet.
Becoming a published writer is sort of like trying to find a cheap apartment in New York City: it's impossible. And yet...every single day, somebody manages to find a cheap apartment in New York City. - Elizabeth Gilbert
I love that, particularly since it employs an analogy I can totally wrap my head around.
I've actually been doing a lot of research into publishing opportunities as of late and I am absolutely stunned by the sheer number of them. There are so many legitimate ways to get your work published. For years I thought the big publishers like Simon & Schuster and HarperCollins were the only game in town, and that the only literary magazines in existance were the big ones like Ploughshares and The Paris Review. But they're not! There are SO MANY independent presses who regularly read and publish unsolicited manuscripts. Tons! And new literary magazines are popping up every other day, both online and in print. It's astounding. It makes me think that there must be a market for my particular brand of writing. And even if there isn't right now, there might be tomorrow.
Tomorrow I'll be submitting three poems to a poetry contest. I'm not going to win. I'm not even going to get an honorable mention, but I need to get my work out there. I need to get people behind the scenes to start reading and evaluating it. I need to get comfortable with the process of submission. Ideally, I would like to have at least one piece being evaluated at any given time. Even when I am sitting at home watching reruns of Law & Order I want to know that my words are out there trying to get themselves into print.
And speaking of words in print, this month's issue of the Knox Magazine informed me that closet hottie Tom Rohn has been publishing through Lulu.com. His short story collection Box of Pox and his dramatic collection Five Plays, which includes the full script of "Zombies! The Musical!" and "Medieval" are currently availible, and I think I may just have to purchase them. After all, you should always support the (nice) Knox alums! The mean ones can toil forever in obscurity.
Oh, and on a completely unrelated note, the IHOP on Boston and Mathews is finally open and Greg and I went and had dinner thater Sunday night. I'd never been to an IHOP before. All I have to say is chocolate chip pancakes are now and will ever remain one of the most decadent treats on the planet.
