The best thing about blogging is the people you meet. Not that I've ever actually met Jeff. We haven't had beers or shared embarrassing childhood stories or spent a cold Buenos Aires morning burying a dead llama jockey that I HAVE NO IDEA HOW HE GOT INTO MY TRUNK!
But Jeff has been super supportive to me and my writing. He's really nice. Like super nice. Like so nice it makes me wonder whether he actually has a closet full of suits made with human skin and he's just covering up for it. Even so, he's my kinda people.
And he's been kind enough to grant me my very first guest post! I asked Jeff to tell us a little bit about how he got his short story published. As always, he exceeded my expectations.
Check it out._____________
"I've Never Had a Story Rejected."
Can you make that claim? Writers all over the world can. Never rejected. Not even once.
How?
Are they storytellers so brilliant that rejection isimpossible? Is their prose so powerfulthat the Earth itself is moved by it? Dothey write their characters so real they knock at your front door and borrowcups of sugar? Are their settings sovivid that you could walk through them with your eyes closed?
They must have a secret. That's the only explanation for never havinghad a story rejected, isn't it? Want toknow what their secret is? I'm about todivulge it. Right here. Right now. Follow this simple step and you'll never find another rejection letterin your mail again.
Don't submit yourstory.
That's it! It'sthe only way. It's guaranteed to preventthe heartbreak of reading, "Sorry, but your story isn't right for us atthis time." And you'll never againbattle the self-doubt that comes with receiving no response at all to yoursubmission.
This is a secret I knew instinctively. I had a perfect record with zerorejections. I was undefeated. And I wasn't about to jeopardize it! Surely, my fragile ego couldn't possiblywithstand an incrementing counter in the losses column. Once a rejection came I'd never again be ableto claim that I had avoided the disappointment of rejection.
Undaunted by fear, I blissfully wrote my stories andchapters. I posted chuckles andlight-hearted shorts on my blog without the dread of agents and editorsscrutinizing every word and phrase. Iparticipated in weekly challenges with my online fantasy writing group, knowingthe worst I'd receive was a callous critique. I was happy. I was writing. And I had never been rejected.
And then came opportunity. A message appeared in the fantasy writinggroup, posted by an editor who had just finished selecting stories for the"Cutlass: Ten Tales of Pirates" anthology. She asked the group, "You wouldn't perchance have a really good story about magic?"
"Magic??? This is a FANTASY Writing group," Ireplied, and ended my response by quoting Harry Potter. "I lovemagic!"
She asked if I was fishing for an invitation. I hadn't thought so consciously, but now thatshe'd asked, maybe subconsciously I was. Was a push all I needed? Iinquired about where I could find the submission guidelines. "Nowhere," she answered. She doesn't like slush. Submissions were by invitation only. We took the conversation to email and shetold me what types of stories she was seeking.
"What the heck," I thought. I drafted the first thousand or so words ofan idea I had. I sent it to her andasked if it was in the ballpark. Shesaid it was. So without regard for myperfect record, I wrote. A few weekslater, I sent her the finished story. Andwaited.
An email arrived a couple months later. It contained a handful of suggestededits. I was ecstatic. Edit requests mean they're interested, or soI'd read on more than one blog. Ihappily revised and resubmitted. A fewdays later I received word that she wanted to include "Barnabas" inthe anthology. My short story had founda home.
This was a case of me being in the right place at theright time with the right story sent to the right editor. In North Carolina, we call that "sheerdumb luck." But sometimes, sheerdumb luck is the best kind to have.
But then I got to thinking. That's what it always comes down to, isn'tit? Beautiful, powerful, excitingstories by the thousands skirt across the desks of countless agents and editorsbefore they find a home. They have to bethe right story at the right time for the right place and read by the rightagent.
All we can do is keep submitting our stories until thecelestial muses align and our words emit that almost divine aura that only theright agent at the right time can see. It doesn't matter how many desks our stories see before they find theirhome. What matters is that we continuegiving our stories the chance to find that perfect home.
The quotable Winston Churchill said, "Success is not final. Failure is not fatal.It is the courage to continue that counts."
Never having been rejected isn't a boast; it's proof youneed to buy more stamps and click "Send" on more emails containingyour stories and queries. Have courage.Be tenacious, unrelentingly persistent. The perfect home for your story is out there. Only you can help your story find it.
About Jeff Hargett
Jeff Hargettis a grandfather from North Carolina with an imagination full of magic anddragons. He stays young and fit by dining on epic fantasy whenever possible. Hehas a short story that appears in the Spells: Ten Tales of Magicanthology and a couple others that placed in competitions, but prefers his fictionin novel-length doses. He is currently writing an epic fantasy series that hehopes will be published while he can still wield a pen. He’s a firm believerthat when this world doesn’t suit you, you should write a world that does. Heenjoys interacting with readers and other writers and spends far too much timeloitering around his blog.When this world doesn’t suit you, write a world thatdoes.
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