10 Years Ago
Hard to believe it's been a decade since I started submitting my short stories for publication. The adventure began when I sold "Hero for Hire" in the fall of 2009. It wasn't published until January 2010, but that first sale really got my blood pumping. And thanks to all the sales that followed, I've been energized to write, submit, and sell my work ever since.
I started writing fiction when I was twelve, but submitting work for publication was never a goal during those early years. As I grew up, got a job, and made less time for my writing, I figured pursuing publication might be something I'd do when I was old (like...forty), or when I retired from teaching. Someday far, far away.
It wasn't until I met my wife, and she encouraged me to submit my work, that I ventured down this path. In 2007 and 2008, I submitted a slew of queries to agents and publishers. I had three novels ready to go, but alas, there were no takers. Then a couple years later, a parent of one of my students suggested the short story market as a way to establish myself as a writer and accumulate some publication credits along the way. I figured I had nothing to lose.
Since then, 120 of my short stories have been published along with a plethora of haiku and microfiction. The success of my short fiction has motivated me to never give up on my longer work. If there's one thing I've learned over the past decade, it's this: somewhere out there is an editor or publisher who will want to share my stories with the world; I just have to find them.
And that goes for my novels, too.
I started writing fiction when I was twelve, but submitting work for publication was never a goal during those early years. As I grew up, got a job, and made less time for my writing, I figured pursuing publication might be something I'd do when I was old (like...forty), or when I retired from teaching. Someday far, far away.
It wasn't until I met my wife, and she encouraged me to submit my work, that I ventured down this path. In 2007 and 2008, I submitted a slew of queries to agents and publishers. I had three novels ready to go, but alas, there were no takers. Then a couple years later, a parent of one of my students suggested the short story market as a way to establish myself as a writer and accumulate some publication credits along the way. I figured I had nothing to lose.
Since then, 120 of my short stories have been published along with a plethora of haiku and microfiction. The success of my short fiction has motivated me to never give up on my longer work. If there's one thing I've learned over the past decade, it's this: somewhere out there is an editor or publisher who will want to share my stories with the world; I just have to find them.
And that goes for my novels, too.