How Good Is Your Writing?

You want to be in Modern Love. The Paris Review. A Big Five publisher’s forthcoming list. Are you good enough? How can you tell if submitting would be a waste of time?

It’s hard to judge the quality of our own work. Most of our friends are more supportive than critical—thank goodness! But in order to figure out if our own writing belongs in the publication venue we admire, we need to step back and take a long hard look. Since it’s hard to judge your own work, start by judging someone else’s.

Wha...