#amquerying Adventures
Drafts are being written, re-written and readying for submission / querying. I’m too use to the non-fiction publications that I work with having immediate responses for acceptance.
In my mind, I always track a query at 48 hours. No response in 48 hours, no publication. Now looking at submission time lines like the New Yorker (90 days and maybe never hear anything). A shift in thinking is required on my part to get ready for these long periods of waiting.
Photograph from Maxim Melnikov (https://unsplash.com/@bbsody)
Submission Pipeline or Train Schedule?
I’m starting my writing journey but am treating it like a business because that’s just how my brain works. As I learn more about the world of publishing I’ll update my thoughts but for now here’s how I’m approaching querying / submissions.
Submitting a story is like a person who gets on a train and is on that train until the train ride comes to an end. The story is the person. The train is the publication. The duration of the trip is based on the submission timelines for acceptance. When the story is waiting to get off the train (rejection or acceptance) it is unavailable to other trains (other publications).
As a writer, my stories are my products. I’ve noticed a lot of similarities in the publishing business to the supply chain or logistics business. Sometimes the products are in transit and not available - to anyone.
The good news is, thinking in terms of supply chain & logistics gives me some good tools to manage my submissions and know:
What stories are available for a train
What stories are currently on a train
When should that story be getting off it’s current train
In an effort to track this, I’ve created an Excel spreadsheet to monitor my story inventory and submissions. If you’re interested in the Excel document, I’ll share it with you. Just let me know if you’re interested in the comments.
My goal is to monitor what’s out there in submission land and what is available so that I can maximize the use of my inventory. So that all stories find an audience and I can get these things out of my head and into the hands of people who might connect with them.
Now, for a short poem. Enjoy! The events of this poem are the inspiration for the story Caliburn. I hope you enjoy that as well. I know the City of Duhr story is getting long and complex but I hope you enjoy it anyway.
Toothless & Empty
Running
from the parking garage
late.
Lungs burning
billowing icy mist
as I round the corner
Happy Hour in sight
stopped by a small woman.
Hair greasy
skin splotching red from the wind
coats and blankets and coverings mounding
over her in a hide of desperation and isolation.
She was hungry
asked for food
not money
just food.
She couldn’t eat what was around us
showing me the blackened pits where her molars
use to be.
I had nothing for her
no money
no food near us she could eat
but most important
no time.
She was an obstacle
to be avoided
a distraction from my
Happy Hour.
Apologizing
I stepped around her
wishing her good luck
slipping into the bar
where I sat in the warm
and drank myself warmer.
She lingered outside
not for me
but for anyone
to help her.
The night swallowed her
by the time I left
now full on food and drink
and empty as those black pits in her mouth
wondering...
Was everyone
running to fill their own pits?
Was everyone else
still empty?
Poetry Friday
Special thanks to the Karen Edmisten (http://karenedmisten.blogspot.com/2019/10/poetry-friday-im-hosting.html) for hosting #PoetryFriday this week! Check out her blog, marvel at the clever title and share your writing with the community!
Leave me a comment and let me know what you’d like to see more of on this blog. More music? More writing? More creative process? What are you looking for?