Steve B. Howard's Blog, page 152
September 15, 2018
Waiting is Part of Publishing
“turned on black road signage displaying wait” by Xu Haiwei on UnsplashI should know this by now. A big part of attempting to publish your work is the wait. I started trying to publish short stories right at the cusp of the e-mail submission revolution in the late 90’s, long before the heaven that is Submittable hit the literary scene, and light years from a galaxy far far away before Medium came along. I spent most of ’97 and much of ’98 stuffing envelopes with my first raw attempts to get my work out there into the big bad literary world. Then standing in front of the mailbox patiently waiting for the rejection letters to arrive.
“mail boxes” by Marius Christensen on UnsplashIn 2003 my first novel was finally ready (or so I thought) to enter the literary agent query letter purgatory that thankfully had mostly left the snail mail days long behind. The number of e-mail rejection form letters that I never received from the lit agents I queried was an underwhelming learning experience, to say the least.
Then at some point during the mid-2000’s I discovered Submittable. The waiting game didn’t change much, but at least I could log in and see that the lit agents and editors were actively ignoring my work. I found it oddly comforting to see either the “received” or “in progress” tab next to the title of my story. At least I knew it was sitting in a digital slush pile or mostly likely about to get the cyber rejection stamp.
And now I’m pumping my wares all over the place. Again, the waiting game hasn’t changed even though once you are a writer for a publication submitting couldn’t be easier. The catch though for me is always about the paywall. When I submit to a publication and hear nothing but the cold soft hum of the nothingness void vibrating through my laptop thoughts like, “Maybe I should withdraw this one and see if I can earn a bit on my own page instead?” spin through my brain. I have one article that has been held hostage for over a month. And I still don’t know what to do with it. Simpletons such as myself shouldn’t be left with such lofty decisions to make. All it does is make me write goofy blog posts like this one.
Helping each other write better.
Waiting is Part of Publishing was originally published in The Writing Cooperative on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.
Biting the Hand of an Indifferent god
“silhouette of trees under thunder lightning” by Johnny McClung on UnsplashIf chaos is truly the Prime Mover
of the universe why do we rally so
fiercely against it in our attempts to
understand and explain it?
Biting the Hand of an Indifferent god was originally published in Other Doors on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.
September 14, 2018
My son is eight and there have been a few of his DVDs that I have seriously considered scratching…
My son is eight and there have been a few of his DVDs that I have seriously considered scratching the hell out of. After watching the same kid’s movie twelve times in a row parents get like that sometimes.
I often feel the same way.
I often feel the same way. I’m still kicking around the idea of writing a rant article about Chewbacca Mom. Two book deals because of one stupid Youtube video? Are you kidding me?
September 13, 2018
On a more serious note though, your book Homo Deus did inspire me to write this short little…
On a more serious note though, your book Homo Deus did inspire me to write this short little review/article about it.
Pretty funny, when I first saw the title before I saw who the writer was my first thought was, “Ha…
Pretty funny, when I first saw the title before I saw who the writer was my first thought was, “Ha, this guy needs to read Homo Deus before he starts telling kids what they need to do in 2050.” lol. Love your work and I’m looking forward to reading 21 Lessons soon.
Maybe they need to add the Vert-spectrum to the DSM-5, lol.
Maybe they need to add the Vert-spectrum to the DSM-5, lol. Thanks again for reading and commenting on my stuff.
The Politest Pile-Ups
“selective focus photography of bicycle” by Martin Castro on UnsplashOld ladies on bikes collide
in the Nagoya intersection like the
cold light from long dead
stars.
Contusions and road rash aside
they reject the offer of
a helping hand from the
green eyed gaijin.
Dignity recovered they both
bow low before mounting their
bikes and riding away.
Slightly outraged, I walk on
to the subway shaking my head.
But then find myself glad
the incident didn’t become the
gunfight it might have
in my home country.
The Politest Pile-Ups was originally published in P.S. I Love You on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.
That’s great. I like Quirkovert too. I’m also an INTJ. Birds of a feather I guess.
That’s great. I like Quirkovert too. I’m also an INTJ. Birds of a feather I guess.
