Submission Follow-up

A Black Hole to Ponder

This week I did follow-up on three articles I have out for consideration. There is something to be said for the immediate rejection. At least you hear something. I have not heard one peep from any of the publishers I submitted articles to back in June/July. So I sent emails to each of them asking if they received my email way back in "ancient history"... seems like anyway.

I have plenty of patience, but at some point you begin to wonder Did they get the email I sent? or Did it go into the black hole of cyber-space? The latter situation oftentimes amounts to an accidental hit of the Delete key. Hmmmm...

This circumstance provoked a ponder. Instead of being called writers—having not yet been published and thus not earned the title author—we should be called author-in-waiting. After all, writing involves lots of waiting. I don't mean the act of writing, although we sometimes wait for juices to flow, the muse to inspire or creativity to happen. But the part where we send off our "babies" to the publisher and wait to get a response. We hope to hear that our work is worthy of publication, however, dead silence after awhile causes the mind to wonder.

I'm hoping my follow-up elicits some kind of response... or am I in for more waiting?

Submitting to Travel Magazines

I recently completed an article I first wrote last year about a boating excursion that Bob and I took with friends on the Big Island, Hawaii. We motored out to view the lava flow into the sea from the Pu’u ‘O’o crater of Kilauea volcano. Using the skills I have learned, I resurrected the article and rewrote it.

Searching for a magazine to publish the article, I found a great site with a list of 50+ travel magazines that accept travel narratives. Out of the list I found several with a good fit for my article. Now the task of submitting the manuscript.

Here is a taste of Lava for Breakfast:

It was dark and raining when we arrived at our meeting location. Rain pounded the roof as we waited in the car and peered out the windows into the blackness of the parking lot. It was 4:30 a.m. As headlights came into view, I studied each vehicle… No boat. Not him.

Have you written any travel articles and found a good place for them to be published? Leave a comment and let us know.

Manuscripts Received...I'm on My Way to Mount Hermon

Tomorrow I leave for a five-day writers conference at Mount Hermon in the Santa Cruz mountains. I sent two manuscripts ahead of the conference. One for editorial review by Nick Harrison, Senior Editor at Harvest House Publishers.  The other for critique by Barbara Curtis.

I'm very excited about the submission for editorial review. I submitted my picture book The Tail of Chessie--the Heart of God. It's been completely rewritten and critiqued. I am very happy with it. It's a great story about Dillon and his dog Chessie who endears herself to Dillon with an attentive personality and ever-wagging tail. Dillon learns about the character of God through Chessie.

I also submitted an adult article about personal growth through a tragic incident. I hope to get it published in a magazine.

I finished the manuscripts under duress of illness and mailed them off. Best of plans can be thwarted by being sick. My head was feeling foggy as I worked to carefully polish the manuscripts and get them in the mail. To my distress I noticed a blatant error on the first page of my picture book today as I was getting things ready to leave..Arghhhh! I'm hoping that it miraculously goes unnoticed.

Leave a comment and tell me your submission stories.

Hello...Are You There?

Oh...Sorry!  I've been busy doing life, writing the magazine article, and well...you know how it goes.  I just have to get used to writing for the purpose of publication and at the same time, posting relevant and interesting items for my blog in hopes I can get a loyal and growing following.

Monday I received the "turn-down" from my first manuscript submission.  You know you've been rejected when you get that eerily familiar envelope when you open the mail box. It's the one that you addressed and applied postage to.  The material inside is pristine as the day you inserted it into the envelope, addressed it to the publisher and mailed it off.  At least I'd feel better if there were a few stains on it giving it the appearance that someone did look at it.

Oh well.  I thought I'd likely get rejected--a harsh word--perhaps passed over would be better to swallow.  After rereading the submission letter I wrote, no wonder I got rejected.  As my writer friend Keli Gwyn says, "Don't fall into pitfalls that make your work cry Newbie!"  Why did I think that letter sounded good at the time? Is it because we writers, if we are honest, can always improve upon what we write?  And, of course, we always seem to do our worst when representing ourselves...arghhhh!  Any thoughts on this?

OK, gotta go.  I have to finish my article for the critique group tomorrow, register for the conference later this month and get my manuscripts prepared for submission.