Here's a little something I picked up along the way ....

Not long ago now, I wrote a short post about how rarely I seem to get acceptance e-mails these days. And that got me thinking: just because I didn’t find a home for a particular story on the first or second or third attempt, does that automatically mean it’s a bad story? That I should scrap it and start over?

Once upon a time I would have said yes to both questions, because I was naïve enough to believe a story only got rejected because it was either ill written or ill conceived. Those things are contributing factors, certainly, but not the only reason why a story might reach the slush pile.

There are people out there who’ll tell you that’s exactly why your baby got rejected. And there are some who’ll say there is no point in heading straight into writing a novel or novella until you have a reasonable amount of published short stories to your name.

I’ve met my share. I won’t name names or state the groups those particular people are affiliated with, although if you’re on Facebook and you’re in any kind of writing groups, you might know one or two people like that. And that, really, was one of the major contributing factors why I spent so much time doubting my creativity.

Of course, you can always set yourself a point where, on a personal level, you might want to stand back and reconsider what you’re doing, although in my opinion you’re only ruining your chances. You learn a craft by going through the motions day in, day out. Nobody ever became a master after a couple of thousand words. And very few people ever hit the bullseye on their first attempt. It takes time and effort and dedication.

Put enough words on the page and you’ll soon see where you’re going wrong.

But put enough time into what you love doing and you’ll see how far you’ve gone.

I’ve spent countless hours reading (and watching videos via You Tube) on what other people had to say on the subject of writing that I almost became conditioned to doing things a certain way. I doubted myself. I doubted my stories. And I almost gave up.

That’s not to say those people didn’t have something worthwhile to say, because in most cases they did, sometimes, but it doesn’t mean you also have to walk away believing everything they’ve said.

I’ve lost count of how many short stories I’ve submitted and had returned with the dreaded rejection. Then again, so have a great many of the great authors. Remember tastes change from editor to editor; the last guy’s pallet isn’t necessarily the same as the next guy’s.

I struggle with word count. I’m not ashamed to admit it. I don’t seem to be able to hit the dream 3,500 short story word count head on; I’m always over it by a long way. And I’m ok with that. Who cares? From the moment you sit and write your story, you’re only writing it (or should be at least) for yourself because it’s the kind of story you as a reader would like to read.

Sooner or later, someone will love your story enough to pick it up.

Acceptance e-mails; they’ll happen sooner or later. It just depends on how much work and effort you’re prepared to invest in order to get where you want to be.

Good luck and thanks for reading.

Saul Hudson.