First, congrats to Clarion partners-in-crime Amelia and Trent for recent story sales and a big congrats to Charles and his wife for the newest addition to their family.
I received my copy of Southern Comfort on Friday. Of course, I immediately turned to my story just to make sure I/it really was in there. I/it was.
I guess all writers go through the feelings I had seeing my story in print: excitement at first, thinking, "Hey, that's really my story! In print! The words I wrote!" That means that somebody besides myself, Cindy, and the editors is (potentially) going to read this story!
Then: Oh God. People are going to read this story.
So you read it, looking for glaring mistakes, even though you know the editors have already been through it. And you let out a long breath of relief.
Now don't get me wrong, I really like my story. And I think it's a good story. But I see things that I would do differently now. Better word choices, better pacing, better description, lots of stuff. I think that's a good thing - I can see growth, can see how I'm a better writer now. Again, I think probably most writers go through this. It's part of the process.
One of my instructors emailed her congrats and said, "Savor this, your first sale." I think I'll always savor the first one. But I'll keep looking toward the next one.
Now Playing = Chaos and Creation in the Backyard - Paul McCartney
Now Reading = House of Leaves - Mark Z. Danielewski
1 comment:
I've been writing on these newsletters for more than two years now, but I still grab copies the minute they come in from the printers and read through everything I wrote with a sense of "oh-my-god-people-are-going-to-see-
this-with-my-name-on-it." I hope that feeling never goes away.
Congratulations again.
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