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| P.S. The due date has been changed to Aug. 30th |
Strewn across the city that I am privileged to call home are flyers, designed in
hand-written, black ink and posted on telephone poles, the occasional store
bulletin board, and, in one circumstance, a metal dinosaur sculpture. The
flyers are a creation of Scattergun Zine, a local, independent
publication “created out of chaos and confusion.” The
proprietors are looking for your artwork, poetry, prose, short stories, music,
and photography—what a wonderful opportunity to get something out into the world.
I’d passed by these lovely flyers at least a dozen times
before giving them any thought. I don’t have any completed short stories at the
moment and I was sure I had nothing to contribute. But, eventually, I stood
before one—posted
on the metal dinosaur outside of the Upper Peninsula Children’s Museum, no
less—and
committed the email address at the bottom of the page to memory. I thought that
I should at least try to submit an
excerpt from my most involved project and hope for the best.
The theme of the current issue is “Lost!” and any work that may
pertain to this subject is encouraged. It just so happens that the very first
chapter of my nearly-finished novel is about the disappearance of a character.
I swallowed my fear and sent the piece to scattergunzine@gmail.com.
And immediately regretted it.
I continued to regret it late into the following night. There was
no way anyone would publish just that bit of writing, right? It was penned as a
sort of flash introduction to my novel—a piece to make readers terrified,
confused and longing for more information. But, something wasn’t right with the
piece. I knew it, but wasn’t sure about exactly what I felt uncomfortable with.
As I drove home from town to my homestead the following day, I faced
somewhat of a revelation.
I needed to take another look at the first chapter and search for
possible improvements. It could require entire rewrite, I knew, or merely need
a few added sentences to give it a little more flesh. Committing to revisions is an important step in writing even
though admitting your work may need rewriting can be a blow to one’s ego.
So far, I’ve been mostly satisfied with the excerpt I’d submitted,
but I have added a few descriptive sentences onto the first few paragraphs and
am considering a few more. It’s funny how showing someone my writing, and thus
a part of my soul, has encouraged me to continue working on a piece that I had
previously thought finished. This is
why writers are so often encouraged to let others read their work. Not only
will your readers most likely have advice or opinions to offer you, the simple
act of knowing your work will be read for another’s enjoyment will give you a
reason to subject it to further scrutiny.
If I don’t get my piece published in this particular publication,
I’ll feel completely okay. The action of submission has already improved my
work. And, my lovely readers, if I am not fortunate enough to be chosen, I will
post my first chapter for you all to read here.
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