The dream that began eight years ago has finally come to fruition. I have a publisher for my historical Y/A novella. Along the way, the path has had many twists and turns. Those rejection letters and then e-mails came slowly but packed a wallop. I stopped submitting for awhile because of the rejection. Then I began to make a plan.
I took a writing course and joined a writers group of older writers. The Taproot group was good for me. I was exposed to a wonderful instructor, who just happened to be a poet. I listened and took the criticism as constructive most of the time. Sometimes I did not change my gut instinct but listened to the way I could improve the mechanics of the work. I listened to all the poets and was inspired to write more of the same.
I also began to read the guidelines carefully. At first, I sent my work to any magazine or publisher that I thought would want to read my pieces. I realized after awhile that there has to be a fit. So I became selective in sending my work. I would read past volumes if I could to get a feel for the publication. I did have a few successes. Once a year at least one publication would accept my work. That fueled the spark in me to keep sending.
The biggest change for the better came along because I subscribed to fundsforwriters, a free newsletter for writers by C Hope Clark. Hope gives all of us a reason to keep writing. She has an advice column at the start of every newsletter. Then she compiles lists of places of submission with blurbs explaining what they are looking for. At the end of each newsletter, there are publishers and agents listed. This is what helped me the most. I began sending my work to magazines or anthologies that appeared to be looking for what I was writing. I have had several articles, poems, and short stories published. Most were paid and some were not. At least I knew that upfront.I was inspired to keep writing.