I started writing last March or April and by this point in July of last year, I felt comforable enough to start submitting my stories to literary magazines.
It’s been a BIG learning curve. I knew from the start that I needed a way to keep track of what I was submitting. Back in The Time Before (pre spring of ‘20, aka pre covid), when I was still silly enough to think I could find a job that wasn’t in Dead End Retail, I used a spreadsheet to keep track of the jobs I applied for.
That wee spread sheet has now grown into a huge document with four or five sheets. I’m probably over thinking so much of it, and kinda OCD about it, but as long as I keep on top of it, I know where and when to submit stories, what lit mags to avoid (various reasons, from being ghosted, to not submitting to places that charge a fee but don’t pay contributors, etc) and a sheet for everything I’ve written with notes on genre and word count.
While I’ve racked up an impressive list of rejects (don’t ask how many, let’s just say A LOT), I now have four published stories with three more due to be published either by next month or year’s end.
I am continuing to write stories, but I’m also looking at finding writing jobs that pay and maybe trying to break into ghost writing. This is proving to be….interesting to say the least.
The cats continue to amuse us. As I write this, Eclaire is hollering to play fetch and Bailey is hogging the couch as she cat naps.
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