Going On the Account: I Know I'll Often Stop and Think About Them…
A few quick thoughts before seeing the Beatles in Asbury Park
Okay, not actually see them; more like attend and present at a conference about them. I’ll be attending the EF4 Fest in Asbury Park, NJ, where in addition to attending presentations about Rubber Soul by Beatles scholars…
Yes, they exist, thank you…
I’ll also be part of a team giving a presentation about 1965 and what the group went through going into the start of recording the album in October of that year.
It’s kind of hard to imagine I’d be seeing the Beatles themselves perform there, even with a TARDIS handy, especially as it would be under less than ideal circumstances…[1]
So I’m a little early this week with a few things to share over and above my weekend plans:
Silence, Like a Cancer, Grows…
Almost buried by the other headlines this week was word that Conde Nast shut down Teen Vogue on Monday.
One of the few bigger-backed publications that actually took on and stood up for people while the rest of the media landscape cowered and transferred their loyalty from their audience to their bosses, there were moments during the first go round of this nightmare when they had better reporting about what was going on than found on other outlets. The online mag[2] focused on writing to a Gen Z audience with honesty and explaining how they would be affected by what was being done to them, while at the same time spoke with honesty about how things were as they reflected on and shared with their readers.
This was particularly devistating, as I found Teen Vogue to be helpful as I got into doing the heavy work on Statues to Silence. It’d been a few years since I’d been a higher ed student, and my last institutional term was in grad school. Whatever experiences I had as a student that I could draw on were certainly outdated, or at best unfolded in a way that would not have happened had they occurred today. Having the voice of someone closer in age to Eloise and her peers to hear from was invaluable in helping get a sense of who these people were.
Also of note is that what happened to Teen Vogue comes close to what happened to The Weldoff Sentinel in the novel. Some folks seem to think “children should be seen and not heard” is a winning strategy, despite all the evidence to the contrary…
For the Losers Now Will Be Later to Win…
This is for all the folks who are writing and might be feeling a little dejected: There is one metric that after more than a few tries might keep you going…
I make the effort to set up time to take stories that I have not placed anywhere to find them homes. While there are a lot of calls for submissions out there that are asking for specific stories, which offer some interesting prompts that might not otherwise have been considered,[3] there are also open calls for fiction from other markets that are looking for stories in general that meet their aesthetics and tastes. So if you have something that meets their stated expectations, you may find a home for your work with them.
Let’s just acknowledge right here that fiction, above all else, is subjective. Both Stephen King and Colleen Hoover have built strong followings through their work, and there’s not that many folks in a Venn diagram of the two groups that are going to overlap. Hey, suum cuique…
But ANY-ways, like you may have, I’ve written a lot of pieces, and want to place them before an audience. I track down leads for markets that are looking for stories, using Duotrope to find them, subscribing to Angelique Fawns’ blog to find any other openings, going online to see announcements, just about anything to point me in the direction where there might be an editor who feels my stuff needs to be shared on their platform. You may have your own methods to look for places to place; if you’re just starting out, these sources above are worth your time.[4]
So: I have stories I want to offer, and as part of the process, I set up a spreadsheet to help me keep track of which piece has gone where. I set up mine with the headings below:
If there’s any one big hack I can offer to other writers, it’s pointing out that a good tracking system helps to focus you and gives you an overall sense of your output that can offer insights you might not otherwise have.
Like this one: Lately, I have a few stories that I am shopping around, for which I’ve gotten some recommendations. Some of these leads are for publishers I have tried to offer other things to before, without success.
And in a few cases, some of these suggestions are for publishers that have rejected one of my works, a work that another publisher bought from me later on.
Now, this is not a slight. As noted, writing is very subjective, and things like this happen a lot. But if you find yourself having moments of doubt about your abilities, there’s something very reassuring in seeing concrete proof that your work is worth someone’s time. If it doesn’t make it there, have it try to make it anywhere else.
And don’t forget to not take the rejection too much to heart. This is all part of the natural process, and it’s not like any of these rejections are going to be remembered the way Decca turning down the Beatles did…[5]
And In Addition…
Like I said, this is early this week, so it might be a little longer before the next one comes out…
[1] For one, the lack of a proper venue, as the Stone Pony didn’t open until 1974…
[2] The print edition run of Teen Vogue ended with the December 2017 issue
[3] And hey, if it’s a paying market, that helps too…
[4] And if you know of any methods that you are willing to share, by all means, please do…
[5] Or, for that matter, the reassessment of Wikipedia; Tom Ellison’s piece in McSweeny’s sums that up pretty well (and if you actually feel a little guilty, throwing Wikipedia a few bucks might be worth it…)