Christmas Eve in Korea. I've spent the morning researching how to "become" a Writer; or rather, a Successful, Published Writer. With even more specificity: a Financially Independent, Financially Successful Writer (envisioning my next--and final--career as a published author earning a satisfying living through writing until death). I've always been a Writer, so truthfully, there is no becoming, except to "become" published!
Having downloaded several of the Writer's Digest/Writer's Market books on writing and publishing which list Literary Agents and Literary Magazines that accept unsolicited submissions, I've also completed hours of research on the publishing market, writing contests, fellowships, grants, et al. Instead of the Sisyphean burden of trying to complete an entire novel, I have opted for the short story market. With plenty of book-length works begun, but none finished, I can finally begin the submission process, rather than continuing to procrastinate and flog myself for my failure to become a published writer. Well, first, one must actually submit their work in order to get published. Besides, a lot of my written work is actually written on paper, and those papers reside in two places across the globe from each other: some stored in a friend's room in China, and the other pieces are stored in another friend's garage, far off in Texas. The publishing process is daunting, overwhelming, terrifying, and all the other synonyms related to fear and overload. There are multiple steps--even to target the appropriate market for my work: lit magazines, journals, periodicals, etc. Courageously, I can hike along the sheer drop of a cliff, swim alone into 4-meter waves, dive into dark depths, move to a new country sans friends or family, hell, even go on a date, but submitting the work of my soul - submissions necessarily result in rejection - and add to that all of the foundational research that submissions entail, is the greatest terror of my lifetime. I believe resolutely that my future depends on the ability to earn a satisfactory and steady income from writing. This is a greater burden than Sisyphus carried, and I will heave the same weight upward again and again as I move forward with this, my...what...8th professional career? (Waitress, Software Licensing, Financial Advisor, Professional Yacht Chef, Yoga Instructor, Dive Instructor, Licensed Educator). One avocation underscores all of these, however. I am, and have always been, a Writer. Time to be my own goddamned boss and stop working for The Man (literally, working for white men all my life and sick of it). Books on publishing, writing, and developing writing habit consistency:
And lastly, I've begun researching writing prizes (Hugo Award, Pulitzer Prize, Women's Prize for Fiction, Booker Prize, National Book Awards, etc.), large and small; prize-winning female writers (Katherine Anne Porter, Flannery O'Connor, and other short story award winners; and of course all the classic novelists like Atwood, Bronte, and more), and of course my favourite authors, such as Tim Winton, Victor Hugo, Gary Crump, Neil Gaimann, Sir Terry Pratchett, all of the classical Roman authors, and more. It's time to start (again) reading books of literary criticism on such authors, as well. Wish me luck, I'm determined it won't be another Australia. 586 words December 25, 2022 ©2022 Regina J McMurray All Rights Reserved |
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