Daniel Elliot

Image source: Geizkragen69 at Pixabay

This is for the writers out there, who I suspect are the majority of my tiny little audience. Or, heck, for anyone doing anything creative. I don’t blog much, but I wanted to share a small triumph, for which I entirely credit my own perseverance.

Last year, I wrote a short story that I’m sure is my best work to date. I had just completed the first draft of my novel, and I was just overflowing with creative energy. Do you remember the scene in Doctor Who (David Tennant era, natch), where he was supposed to regenerate but David Tennant hadn’t landed Broadchurch yet, so he was able to redirect the regeneration energy into the severed hand of his previous incarnation, which he was keeping in a jar of fizzy water like a set of dentures? Felt like that. If you’re not a Whovian or lapsed Whovian like me, then, well, I should probably stop with the deep-cut references to science-fantastical severed hands. It’s a pretty cool show, though.

Anyway, I banged this story out in a week, revised it over the next two, and started submitting it. Lots of shortlists, lots of editorial feedback, no acceptances. I was positive this story had what it took, but eventually, other projects demanded my time, and I set it aside.

About a month ago, I entered it on a whim into Writers of the Future. That’s a big, famous writing contest that’s judged by SFF hotshots and has launched the career of more than one. I won’t go into detail about it, but if you’re a writer and haven’t entered, consider it. It’s free, it has real prizes, and there’s a great forum community attached to it, too.

It didn’t make it there, either. I received a Silver Honorable Mention. You can see my name in the first big giant list here, which is smaller than the second big giant list, but quite a bit bigger than the list of semi-finalists, which still isn’t the top of the pile. Anyway, I’m told this is great for a first entry, and it does feel pretty good for being not-a-winner. As in, it’s a publishable story that many markets would love to have. So I took my publishable losing story, located another market, and sent it over. And lo and behold, it was accepted! My riveting tale of anti-corporatist power-armored pew-pew will appear in an anthology next year. I don’t think I’m allowed to say where yet, but I’ll post again when I can.

If I had given up and trunked the story, then it would never have been published. If I had kept working on the thing, kept trying to fine tune it to suit the market, then it would never have been published either… and it would have been eating up a ton of my time. But I knew it was good. I believed in it, and I just kept getting it out there, and I was rewarded.

Someone out there will see what you see, and they’re going to want it.

The moral of the story? Keep submitting your work. Don’t give up on it. And for your own sake, don’t take it personally. You’re going to get rejected a lot. Everyone does! Your favorite authors did, and maybe still do! Take it in stride, don’t get emotional over it, and keep improving your story and sending it out.

Here’s the kicker, though. There’s a limit to how good you can make the story. Don’t revise forever. There’s a point where your work is going to feel like a perfectly smooth little crystal ball in your hands every time you consider it. If you’re positive what you wrote is good — if you get a feeling like being hit by lightning every time you read through it — then trust yourself. Someone out there will see what you see, and they’re going to want it.