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jpskewedthroneToday we have a guest post from April Steenburgh, a friend who not only pimped our books at the local bookstore when she worked there, but also submitted a story to The Modern Fae's Guide to Surviving Humanity and was accepted. Since then, she'd been totally corrupted by Patricia Bray and I and has since run her own Kickstarter and put together an anthology or her own called Fight Like a Girl. You can find the anthology at Amazon.com and Barnes & Noble in ebook format--a collection of twenty stories from unpublished (until now) authors. Check it out!
Here are some thoughts from April about what it meant to submit, get accepted, and work with Patricia and I on the Modern Fae project. And if you're interested in supporting the next anthology project, swing on by the Kickstarter for CLOCKWORK UNIVERSE and make a pledge!
April:
Josh and Tricia asked me what it was like, what it meant for my writing career, to have been a debut author in their anthology A Modern Fae’s Guide to Surviving Humanity. I had been on the receiving end of rejection letters before, but they were all from editors I did not know, apart from by reputation. Submitting to folks I knew was a whole different monster.
There was also something terribly intimidating about submitting to an anthology stocked with authors I had read and enjoyed. Especially knowing there were only a few spots open for us unpublished hopefuls.
But, it was a theme that I was pretty damn confident writing something for, and was honestly excited about. I laugh as I explain to folks that I treated it like a graduate school paper--waiting until the last minute to finish it up and hand it in. But that is honestly what happened--the theme of the anthology was the paper topic in my head and I always have written best under pressure . . .
I sent it off to Tricia, wished I hadn’t (there were so many little things I could have changed! It wasn’t ready. It wasn’t good enough. Oh, the things that go through your head as soon as you hit send . . .) and went back to dealing with the kerfluffle of life that was 2011.
I desperately wanted that acceptance email, but I wasn’t expecting it. That does not mean I didn’t engage in a silly sort of dance when I received it. It was my first acceptance letter in a vast sea of (very polite and helpful) rejection letters.
That little bit of encouragement, a suggestion that I was good enough, when I put my brain to it--that was what I needed. Once I got over being stunned I made it in, and more or less got over the fact I was surrounded by authors I used to sell or run signings for while managing my bookstore, I realized this was something I could do.
I couldn’t tell you if it was easier or harder, submitting a story to people I knew, but it did make the acceptance letter something magnificent. I knew they would not hesitate to reject my story if it did not fit the project or if it still needed work--they are excellent editors like that. Having folks I knew and respected think my writing was good enough for their book was all the confidence boost I needed.
Fast forward a bit, and I am still writing, and have even launched my own anthology. I had, and continue to have, excellent mentors in the field after all. Josh and Tricia turn out magnificent anthologies--I definitely take a bit of pride for having my first publication nestled in one of their projects. For a new author, they were spectacular at walking me through the whole process, edits to publication. And it is a process.
I wanted other folks to have that chance, an editor willing to walk them through the process of being in an anthology from submission to publication, which ended up with me running my own Kickstarter for an anthology earlier this year, a book that was made up of all unpublished authors. I blame that project soundly on Josh and Tricia--they made quite the impression on me when I was just starting out.
Here are some thoughts from April about what it meant to submit, get accepted, and work with Patricia and I on the Modern Fae project. And if you're interested in supporting the next anthology project, swing on by the Kickstarter for CLOCKWORK UNIVERSE and make a pledge!
April:
Josh and Tricia asked me what it was like, what it meant for my writing career, to have been a debut author in their anthology A Modern Fae’s Guide to Surviving Humanity. I had been on the receiving end of rejection letters before, but they were all from editors I did not know, apart from by reputation. Submitting to folks I knew was a whole different monster.
There was also something terribly intimidating about submitting to an anthology stocked with authors I had read and enjoyed. Especially knowing there were only a few spots open for us unpublished hopefuls.
But, it was a theme that I was pretty damn confident writing something for, and was honestly excited about. I laugh as I explain to folks that I treated it like a graduate school paper--waiting until the last minute to finish it up and hand it in. But that is honestly what happened--the theme of the anthology was the paper topic in my head and I always have written best under pressure . . .
I sent it off to Tricia, wished I hadn’t (there were so many little things I could have changed! It wasn’t ready. It wasn’t good enough. Oh, the things that go through your head as soon as you hit send . . .) and went back to dealing with the kerfluffle of life that was 2011.
I desperately wanted that acceptance email, but I wasn’t expecting it. That does not mean I didn’t engage in a silly sort of dance when I received it. It was my first acceptance letter in a vast sea of (very polite and helpful) rejection letters.
That little bit of encouragement, a suggestion that I was good enough, when I put my brain to it--that was what I needed. Once I got over being stunned I made it in, and more or less got over the fact I was surrounded by authors I used to sell or run signings for while managing my bookstore, I realized this was something I could do.
I couldn’t tell you if it was easier or harder, submitting a story to people I knew, but it did make the acceptance letter something magnificent. I knew they would not hesitate to reject my story if it did not fit the project or if it still needed work--they are excellent editors like that. Having folks I knew and respected think my writing was good enough for their book was all the confidence boost I needed.
Fast forward a bit, and I am still writing, and have even launched my own anthology. I had, and continue to have, excellent mentors in the field after all. Josh and Tricia turn out magnificent anthologies--I definitely take a bit of pride for having my first publication nestled in one of their projects. For a new author, they were spectacular at walking me through the whole process, edits to publication. And it is a process.
I wanted other folks to have that chance, an editor willing to walk them through the process of being in an anthology from submission to publication, which ended up with me running my own Kickstarter for an anthology earlier this year, a book that was made up of all unpublished authors. I blame that project soundly on Josh and Tricia--they made quite the impression on me when I was just starting out.
