Category: Free Inquiry

The end of term has arrived, and with it comes the end of my regular inquiry blog posts. The timing is serendipitous in many ways; I’ve touched on the major points that I was eager about (such as pseudonyms, organizing my submissions, and researching literary magazines), and now that my first round of submissions are out there, my next major task is hang tight and wait for responses back.

The waiting game is a key part of the process for all writers, but it’s the unglamorous part that, while filled with anticipation, is not especially interesting to write about. So just know that in the coming weeks that you don’t hear any update from me, I am waiting eagerly, anxiously, and doing my best to continue carving out writing time even while the end of term and start of practicum comes my way.

Though my Educational Technology class will be well over at that point, I’ll write up a follow-up post upon receiving my first response back from a literary journal, whether it’s an acceptance or, as is statistically more likely, a rejection! Regardless, I’ll be eager to update you on my progress at that time.

For now, goodbye and take care!

My last week’s EdTech weekly reflection post was all about the weight of digital footprints and the importance of discretion for educators in online spaces. An unexpected result of this class: has me reconsidering my long-held stance against pseudonyms.

Perhaps stance is a bit extreme given that I haven’t thought much about pseudonyms beyond a sparkling of interest based on how others’ use them, but in the context of my own writing, I’ve always given the idea of them a hard pass. What is the point of investing the time and effort into writing a story if you’re not even going to claim it as your own?

After our class last week, with guest speaker Jesse Miller of Mediated Reality, I began to understand on a more personal level why others have elected to use pseudonyms in their writing. As an educator, whose online presence will be heavily scrutinized, I am understanding this idea in a whole new way.

The Pros and Cons

This is not to say that pseudonyms are the right fit for all writers. Check out the video below about some of the important pros and cons to keep in mind if you’re considering using a pseudonym for your work:

What has this process looked like?

I’ve been brainstorming pseudonyms this week. It’s been a fun process, like coming up with a character names, only with a lot more weight behind the process. I’ve been bouncing ideas off with my Mom, whose been really supportive with my writing process for a long time. I’d share some of the names here, but that would defeat the purpose of making a pseudonym in the first place, wouldn’t it?

I don’t think I’ll be using pseudonyms for everything. There is some work I’ve done that I wouldn’t mind others associating with me, and as mentioned, part of the enjoyment of writing for me is getting to slap my name on it once I’ve finished.

Have you used pseudonyms before? Do you have any advice to share with me? Drop me a comment below!

A Revision Update

At this point in the process, there is not a tonne to report on (nothing too new or interesting, anyways), but seeing as the intention behind this blog is to document my weekly process, I’ll offer an update regardless.

I’ve continued delving through my old work and revising. The further back I’ve gone into my drafts, the more jarring the experience has been. I would credit that to the fact that after sitting unseen for 5+ years to that fact that some of my stories are genuinely surprising me. The core plot and characterizations are not things I could ever forget, but the actual literary devices used were less cemented in my mind. Some of these efforts read as clunky, but there have been others that, while reading, have evoked a genuinely floored reaction of “I really wrote this?”

Returning to my old drafts been a highly rewarding experience in and of itself.

Another Great Submissions Website

The other piece I wanted to touch on for this post was a fantastic submissions website called Chill Subs. One of my colleagues shared this website with me, and I have been absolutely floored by the scope and specificity of filter options. Just take a look at the screenshot above —talk about beautiful!

For me, the most exciting has been the ability to filter by genre, country, lack of submission fee, and paying publications. I’ve found several great options this way.

I’m eager to continue on my revision and submission journey, and am looking forward to updating you further next week!

Drowning in Data

This week is all about organization. Now that I am deep in the process of research and revision, I’ve found that it is getting increasingly difficult to organize all the relevant information in a way that is clear and coherent. As I will soon be querying publications, it will be important for me to also keep track of which publications accept simultaneous submissions, the date that I’ve submitted each piece, and whether each piece receives an acceptance or rejection.

Considering all these moving pieces, I decided that a google spreadsheet was the right software for the job.

Getting in Deep with Google Spreadsheets

Here is a quick screenshot of the google spreadsheet that I created:

The above is the result of several hours of tinkering and research. I fell down a small rabbit hole regarding conditional formatting in google spreadsheets, and I found this website post and this video helpful for my specific purposes.

In the end, I used conditional formatting to use color to indicate whether any given piece is “PENDING RESPONSE,” “ACCEPTED,” or “REJECTED.” Take a look at the screencast GIF below for a better understanding of how this works in practice:

I personally like having each row color-coded; this way, I tell what stage each creative work is at within the submission process from a single glance.

My spreadsheet looks quite bare at the moment, but I will be adding in the rest of my works and publications I am interested in the coming week(s).

This week I started peeking into my old drafts. I’d be lying if I said I was eager to start this process; I put it off until I couldn’t justify doing so any longer.

As a little morale boost, I watched a few Neil Gaiman videos before cracking open my old drafts. The one below might not be revision specific, but I find that good writing advice tends to help re-center me before diving into the process. Neil Gaiman is always a joy to listen to; take a look at a short clip of his writing advice that I got a lot out of:

I chose to start by looking over my newer drafts first. I honed in right away on a story I wrote for an English course I took at Camosun College last year. That year of distance afforded me the opportunity to return to the piece with fresh eyes.

I was going through a bit of a tumultuous time; many of my relatives were getting sick, so death, distance, and the progression of complicated relationships through life were on my mind. It was interesting to see just how much this affected the themes of the story.

While the overall structure and message of the story still worked, I definitely paired down some redundant sentences and fiddled around with the imagery. I also caught a few embarrassing mistakes I managed to miss the first time around!

I’ve given it a few passes now, and have passed it off to a trusted reader to hear how the story lands for them, and to find out if I have missed any glaring errors. It is all too easy to miss one or two mistakes when one has re-read the same passage several times in a row!

Once this has been given the stamp of approval by my trusted reader, I am going to go ahead and add this to my “ready to submit” folder in my google drive. I’d like to aim to have 1-2 more stories in similar condition before I begin querying online publications.

For my inquiry project this term, I’ll be exploring the process of getting short creative works published (online or through the mail). I have a BFA in Creative Writing from UBC; while I graduated from this program with a healthy stack of written pieces, none of this work has ever seen the light of day.

There is a busy semester ahead of us, and I am admittedly nervous about adding on the extra work of revising old stories and writing query letters on top of all the rest. I’m also nervous about putting my work out there ⁠—some of these pieces are 6+ years old and have only been read since by my closest friends and family. That all said, submitting my work for publication has been a long-term goal of mine, and what could be better than weekly school-imposed deadlines as a way to stay accountable?

While I’d like to leave myself some flexibility with this inquiry process, my tentative plan of attack will be to:

• Revisit my old work
  • What is it like returning to years-old drafts? What pieces do I still see promise in? How much revision will each piece need?
• Researching online journals and newspapers that are accepting submissions
  • What sort of work are these journals looking for? When are they accepting submissions? Are they paid or unpaid? How does each publication treat publication rights?
• Creating organization tools to keep track of the process
  • Which journals accept simultaneous submissions? Which stories are submitted to which publications, and when? When did you head back? What was the answer? Sent in work digitally or via snail mail?
• Application process
  • What is it like? How long do you have to wait to hear back? What is getting that first response back (acceptance or rejection) like?

I’m expecting that I’ll be able to dig into anywhere from 1-3 posts per subject above. As this course does end in April, there is a good chance that I might not hear back from any journals or newspapers until after this course ends. I intend to write a post when I receive my first letter back, regardless of when that is. 

Looking forward to investigating this process further and updating you all next week!

Heather