Insecure Writers Support Group post - Regular Submissions - Submit early and often.

Hi all!

How did it get to be the first Wednesday of the month again? Time for my IWSG post.

Today my post is about submitting. I, like many other writers/authors, determined to submit more this year. If you don't submit, you don't get accepted/rejected, but it is a safe way to stay in your writing rut. When I read how some writers submit every week, every month or whatever, I think, well, brave you. I made a resolution to submit every week this year, but of course that lasted one week! I submit regularly every fortnight to Romantic Friday Writers and that counts to me, as I get useful critiques which I use to take my 400-word story away and write it up to a little less than 1,000 words (the limit for flash fiction) then I submit the longer stories elsewhere.

Otherwise, I am submitting vignettes to Vine Leaves Literary Journal (see link in sidebar) (a little vignette made the first issue, but there's no guarantee Jessica Bell and Dawn Ius will like my current submission!) 

I also submit to Fast Fiction women's magazine in Australia. They pay well and accept a certain type of story, luckily of the kind I like to write. You can have up to 4 stories in their inbox at any one time, so I keep it pretty full.

There doesn't seem to be enough time in the day to examine all the outlets for my work (My Writer's Marketplace makes a handy doorstop) and some of you probably feel the same. But take heart, if one magazine rejects your story, there's no guarantee it won't be picked up somewhere else, so we do need to seek new markets.

I'll finish with an abbreviated Submissions Checklist for Short Stories from Writer's Digest's latest issue . Many of these points are relevant if you're submitting a novel or non-fiction...

• Check the guidelines and adhere strictly to them.
• Submit early if there's a reading period for submissions.Editors suffer from fatigue too.
• Submit often - have your next story/ies ready when you submit your first.
• Always submit simultaneously. It's not practical to do otherwise. It can take 6 months to hear from some magazines/journals.
• Include a brief cover letter, listing any prior publications. (If you have some credits, this might scare the intern into reading your submission and passing it onto the senior editor.)

None of these things guarantee success. However, as a writer, all you have to do is persuade one editor at one magazine/journal to print your story. (And hopefully, someone will actually, eventually, pay you for your gems.)

• What is your story? Are you submitting regularly this year? Share with us your highs and lows...