Every once in a while it helps (me, at least) to take a step back and reflect on what I‘ve accomplished so far. It’s nearly the end of another year and I still haven’t published anything in the pro (or even semi-pro, for that matter) markets. 2017 marks my fifth year as a serious writer, which I define as someone who is serious about his writing and is making every effort to break into the professionally published markets. Yes, it’s possible I could have written and published something in a lower market, or perhaps even self-published at least one story by now. But that’s not really what I’m going for. When I finish writing my stories, I send them first to my top pro markets, then to every other pro market I can find. Once they’ve made their way through the pros, I route them through the semi-pro markets. I’m not even considering the vanity press markets; as far as I’m concerned, if my work isn’t good enough for the pros, then it’s not yet at a publishable level. I do have to admit that one of my non-fiction essays titled “Why I Write” was picked up in July at 1888.Center, a literary arts center based in Orange County, California. I didn't get paid for the publication, and it wasn't a fiction story, so I can’t really include it as a credit when I submit to magazines. But it is officially my first published work and that makes me feel pretty good. You can read the essay at 1888.center/morgan-broadhead/.
So when I look back on 2017, what exactly have I accomplished this year? Aside from publishing my essay with 1888.Center, I’ve read another 25 novels. Since 2012, when I first started tracking what I read, I’ve gone through 170 novels—that’s about 28 novels each year. Most of these I’ve listened to during my morning and evening commutes to and from the office. But I also read at night in bed or on flights when I have to travel for work. Several I’ve read more than once just because they were that good.
To date, I’ve written only fifteen complete stories which, when I look at it, is actually kind of pathetic. I’ve been writing for five years now, so that averages to just three new stories per year. Of course, that total doesn't include any of my daily scribblings or my infrequent blog posts or any of the partially completed stories or ideas I’ve jotted down, which would add another twenty or so potential stories to the count. That’s a terrible track record. And of those fifteen stories I’ve actually finished, five were written just this year. What the heck was I doing the previous four years? Lots of learning and workshops and conventions and practicing, I guess, because it doesn’t seem like I’ve churned out very much content.
I started this year with a goal of writing one new story every single month. We’re now done with October and I’ve written five...FIVE! Granted, it's better than none. And it’s a lot more than any previous year. But it’s still far short of my goal. I’ve written about 17,000 words this year. If I were writing flash fiction, that’d be 17 new stories. Unfortunately that’s not what I did. Flash Fiction is tough and I have a hard time compressing that much story into such a tight space. Most of my stories this year began as Flash Fiction, but then quickly grew into short stories. I’ll definitely have to do better in 2018.
On a positive note though, four of my five stories this year garnered personal rejections from pro editors or slush readers. A personal rejection means they rejected my story, but liked it enough to pass along a note telling me what they either did or didn’t like about it. When I look at my stories that way, the statistics say that 27% of all the stories I’ve written have received personal feedback from pro editors. That’s actually not so bad. Or looked at another way, editors or slush readers liked 80% of the stories I wrote and submitted this year. Even better. And even though they didn't buy any of them, they like what they saw enough to encourage me to keep sending them more. So the ones who responded positively to my stories are the ones I submit to first whenever I write something new.
Speaking of submissions, I started using The Grinder this year to track all my submissions and responses in the markets. Previously, I just used a spreadsheet to track it all. That quickly became a hassle. The Grinder keeps tabs on lots of other cool data that a spreadsheet never could, like average response times, acceptance rates, activity (acceptances and rejections) of different markets over the last thirty days, plus a really great search tool to help me find just the right market for my stories. In 2017, I had 31 different submissions. That’s seven different stories (my five new ones plus two old ones) to eighteen different markets. So my stories are getting out there and people are reading them and responding to me.
I also submitted my first story to Writers of the Future since 2012. That was a big step for me. Back then, my stories for third and fourth quarter were both rejected. I felt discouraged as a writer and decided that I didn’t want to submit any more after that. I thought I had a lot of “growing up” to do as a writer. So after a five year hiatus, I wrote and submitted another story. I’m curious to see what Dave Farland, the coordinating judge and first reader for the contest, thinks of my writing now. At the same time, I’m also really nervous. What if my writing hasn’t improved at all in five years? What if I’m rejected again? I have a feeling I’ll be devastated, at least for a little while. Probably I’ll be depressed and decide (again) I’m going to quit writing. That’ll probably last a week or so and then I’ll get over myself and think up something new and get right back to it because, really, I just can’t help myself when it comes to writing.
Finally, I’ve made some really great contacts this year in the publishing business. I’ve taken a couple of writing courses and sent some stories to Anna Yeatts over at Flash Fiction Online to be critiqued. I’ve also joined up with other writers (many published, most not) on the Writers of the Future forums. Also, I joined up with Critters, an online critique group, and received lots of useful feedback on my stories that I can use for revisions. I learned all about imaginative story telling from Barbara Baig’s website Where Writers Learn. Barbara also asked if I’d be interested in critiquing a new book she has coming out.
I could make a ton of excuses for why I haven’t written more this year: things are busier at work, I have a lot more responsibilities at church, my wife and I are building a new home ourselves (literally). But I can also think of lots of times when I’ve wasted free moments I could have spent writing. In all though, 2017 was a pretty productive year. Sure, it would have been nice to sell a story in the pro markets. But all things considered, of the last five years since I’ve started this journey, it’s like my progress as a writer really took a major leap forward this year. By far, it’s been my most successful and productive year as a writer and I’m excited to see what 2018 brings, especially if I can set some new goals and get my butt in the chair and fingers on the keyboard and crank out a ton of new stories.
