Not in the nick of time

Is there an expression that means just right after the deadline? ‘Cause I seem to do that a lot. I just submitted that play I’ve been working on (and still didn’t manage to finish) at 12:00am. I think the deadline was 11:59pm the previous day and I now I feel like a moron for not having sent it earlier. Ugh. Why does this alwayssss happeennnnn????

Simultaneous submissions scare me

I’m so used to playing by the rules and obeying authority that doing anything against them, even if it is the right thing, is scary. Andreas Schroeder, my fantastic instructor while I was in the Creative Writing Program at UBC, told me to send my work to multiple places, even if they advise writers not to.

“Fuck ’em,” he said brazenly. “They’ve been saying that for so long without a care for us writers who have to wait months to hear back — and it’s mostly a no — so fuck ’em. It’s only now that we’re starting to get a bit more control back. Just tell them your piece isn’t available anymore and they’ll get the hint.”

Despite his advice, I’ve never sent out a piece to multiple lit mags. Until today. After watching The Square and seeing people revolting against the status quo, the regime that oppressed them, it made me feel a little better about what I was doing. Though of course I could very well be rejected by both these publications and all this trouble and fear wouldn’t matter anyway. I realized that despite all the submissions I’ve had this year, I haven’t had a single acceptance. Yet? I hope.

On submission-fire

Incidentally spent part of today revising another creative non-fiction piece that I will try to send off tomorrow. I realized that by the 15th of the month, I will have written, edited, and submitted three pieces to different outlets in the last two weeks. I think that’s a record. Makes me feel super pumped!

The feeling of submitting your writing

It’s scary. It’s exciting. It’s relieving.

For me, it’s a feeling of accomplishment, going to the post office and dropping off the envelope in the bin (or clicking the send button for email/online submissions). I should’ve taken a picture of the envelope, but yesterday, I sent out a creative non-fiction piece to Prairie Fire‘s annual writing contest. I had been meaning to send it out, but only got to it the day before the deadline (because of school. Of course). It’s always a good feeling for me; I can see how it might be a scary/bad experience if you’re sending off something you’re not sure of or something you don’t feel is very strong, but that’s what re-writes are for. I did a small re-write before I sent my piece in, and I felt really good about it.

Will it be good enough to win? I have no idea. I’m not counting on it, given that there are so many talented writers out there. But is it a start? Can I say I tried?

Damn right.

Post-writing-submission feeling

Do you know that feeling of relief and accomplishment after submitting a piece(s) of your work for a writing contest or for publication, that feeling that, however temporarily, lifts you up just enough so that you feel like you did something important that day?

Yeah, that.