There is Only One Goal

Each writer has their own goals, set using different variables.  How fast we write.  How fast we edit.  When we need to have something done by.  What's going on in our lives.  etc.  But there's one goal that every writer has: To be able to call themselves an author.

There is a difference, of course, between a writer and an author.  While you have to be to a writer in order to be an author, the same is not true for the other way around.  You see, writers are people who write, but have yet to be published.  Authors are people who write and have had a piece of work published.

I'm a writer.

My friend Eric A. Satchwill, however, is an author.

This momentous occasion occurred today!  He wrote a short story and submitted it to an anthology.  One yes, a couple blog posts, and some publishing later, and he finds himself with the brand spanking new title of Author.  Shiny, right?

Of course, there may have been some small amount (or huge mountains full of) jealousy on my part, but I still couldn't be happier for him.  He has achieved the first step in making it in the world of writing.  He's gotten published, and -- for today at least -- he can sit back, look at that short story and think that he has achieved something.  He's accomplished his goal.

Just like the rest of us, though, his journey isn't going to stop there.  Let's face it, I doubt there is a single author out there that got their first book/short story/poem published and thought 'yep, that's it.  My life goal.  I'm done!' No.  We always have more dreams, more goals, more accomplishments to push toward.

His is the novel he's been working on for the past two years Fallen Things.  As someone whose a part of his critique group, I can tell you that it's great, and one day it's going to be out there on the shelf ready to be purchased.

And me?  Well, we all know that I have a short story out for submission (50 days and counting...hoping to NOT get a response, because they're saying that an early response is not generally a good thing).  And, of course, there's Pandora, which I'm currently editing.  It's going well, for once.  I think that may be because I got most of the issues ironed out in the first go around.

One day soon I'm going to join Eric in the ranks of published author.  I'll have that shiny new title (may even make a name plate that says so...just for the hell of it) and I'll be ready to jump in to the work of authors and make my mark (I'll probably use a red pen...)

How close are you to getting your shiny new title?  Do you already have it?  What are you working on hoping to get published??

Going Through Withdrawl

So, a few months ago (three, to be precise) I submitted a short story to an online publication, and I was very excited to receive a response.  This story was honestly one of the best pieces I've ever written (in my not so humble opinion).  While I wasn't confident, I was hopeful that it would be accepted.

Unfortunately the time it took them to reply just seemed to stretch out longer and longer.  Two weeks went by, and I reminded myself that submissions can take a while to get back to you.  Four weeks went by and I started to wonder if they had even managed to get my submission, or if I had typed it in wrong.  Six weeks went by and while I didn't forget about the submission, I started doubting that I would ever get a response.

Then they started putting up posts about how behind they were in their publishing efforts.  The first issue was put up about two weeks late, and the second was a month past when it was supposed to be out.

I can understand that they were having problems.  They didn't expand on what the problems were, but it didn't seem like it was making their lives any easier, so I sympathized.

Unfortunately their problems didn't seem to go a way.  Every issue brought about new challenges that they could never quite overcome, and in the end they decided that they were going to take a couple of months off and after which they were going to change from putting out an issue every month to every other month.

Finally they gave us permission to withdraw our submissions, as up until this point they had a no multi submissions rule, so my story was stuck waiting for something from them.

Anyway, the point of this story is that I ended up withdrawing my submission.  This wasn't a decision I came to lightly, but after 95 days of waiting for a reply, I decided that it was time to try to bring this story to another publishing company.

I think I'm going to look for an anthology for it.  First, though, it's going through my critique group to make sure it's as good as I think it is.

It's back to the  submitting drawing board for me, but I'm still hopeful.  It's a great story, and I would love to see it published.  Can't wait to see if I get to one day see it in print.

Are you planning on submitting anything?  What stage is your writing in?