This weekend I filmed a video where I read one of my blog posts, and I have gotten a lot of positive feedback from it, and it has been suggested that I make it into an ongoing series. Once the idea had been suggested to me, the thought of making it a regular feature had never crossed my mind, it made sense. It's a way of promoting this blog and creating quality content at the same time. It will also push me into making better blog posts on a regular basis as I will need good ones to read off. You can find the video here.
My contract here is almost up (I'm done at the end of the month), and I don't know what my future holds. My first article will be published very soon. Like. In days I will be a professionally published writer. I'm working on my second article, so my writing career is on the right path. Hopefully after this article gets out, I will be able to add more publications to my list, and focus full time on writing. Working freelance in the writing community is possible, but I will need more than one magazine publishing my stuff. Unless my article absolutely blows up and Time magazine buys it and hires me. Buys me a sick apartment in downtown Vancouver. That would be pretty sick. I'd be okay with that. Realistically, that's not gonna happen. What is going to happen is pretty cool though. The entire queer community of one of the largest cities in the prairies is going to know my name. They're going to read the words I wrote. And they'll hopefully like it enough that I get to keep writing for OutWords and move ever closer to the day where writing will be how I make my living.
I know I keep bringing up how excited I am and all that, but I've never really mentioned how amazing it is that it actually happened. Getting published professionally is hard. I'm not even going to use a descriptor there; it is just straight up hard. Authors spend years and years struggling to get published by anything. They live in poverty, struggling to eat and live as they send submission after submission out just trying to get noticed. Most authors have a huge collection--dozens, hundreds!-- of rejection letters to chronicle their attempts. I have three or four. And two of those were for a poetry contest that I sent the wrong kind of poems to. The fact that I sent OutWords an unsolicited submission and proceeded to start writing for them is insane! I mean, they didn't publish my submission because it's not something that they usually use, but they liked it enough to offer me the chance to write for them.
I started writing for them, under the condition that my first few articles would be published online only, and would be done pro bono (not paid). I didn't care, I was excited for the prospect of eventually getting published in print by them. I went out and interviewed a bunch of people, and I wrote my article to the best of my abilities, knowing full well that it was just going to be published online, but I still needed to do good. I needed to prove to them that my words would be good enough to be published in print by them one day.
Apparently I proved that point rather well. I sent in my first draft, not expecting much, just some notes on potential changes, and the like. Instead I got an email back from my editor saying that it was amazing and that nothing would really have to change. And then she asked if I was okay with it being published in print. And, since it was going to be in print, I would be getting paid for it. With zero hesitation, and zero chill if you're so inclined, I said I was totally okay with that.
This all started with an unsolicited submission that I had forgotten about. From the submission I got a chance to write online content for this magazine. And once they had read this article, they decided to put it in print making me a professional writer. After a minimum of rejection letters, I became a professional writer.
I had almost given up on the dream of becoming a professional writer. I almost gave up on writing. My depression had started telling me that I wasn't good. That no one would ever want to read my writing. And I listened, and I started to believe. I almost gave up on my dreams when I was at my lowest point. I probably would have, if it wasn't for that submission I forget existed. And now things have switched around completely. My dream has been realized. I haven't published a novel yet, but the possibility of that becoming a reality is much stronger now.
Dreams can come true. No matter what people are telling you, no matter what you're telling yourself! Your dreams can come true! As long as you are trying to make them happen, they can.
I think this is my longest non-short-story blog post. Huh. You're welcome.
My contract here is almost up (I'm done at the end of the month), and I don't know what my future holds. My first article will be published very soon. Like. In days I will be a professionally published writer. I'm working on my second article, so my writing career is on the right path. Hopefully after this article gets out, I will be able to add more publications to my list, and focus full time on writing. Working freelance in the writing community is possible, but I will need more than one magazine publishing my stuff. Unless my article absolutely blows up and Time magazine buys it and hires me. Buys me a sick apartment in downtown Vancouver. That would be pretty sick. I'd be okay with that. Realistically, that's not gonna happen. What is going to happen is pretty cool though. The entire queer community of one of the largest cities in the prairies is going to know my name. They're going to read the words I wrote. And they'll hopefully like it enough that I get to keep writing for OutWords and move ever closer to the day where writing will be how I make my living.
I know I keep bringing up how excited I am and all that, but I've never really mentioned how amazing it is that it actually happened. Getting published professionally is hard. I'm not even going to use a descriptor there; it is just straight up hard. Authors spend years and years struggling to get published by anything. They live in poverty, struggling to eat and live as they send submission after submission out just trying to get noticed. Most authors have a huge collection--dozens, hundreds!-- of rejection letters to chronicle their attempts. I have three or four. And two of those were for a poetry contest that I sent the wrong kind of poems to. The fact that I sent OutWords an unsolicited submission and proceeded to start writing for them is insane! I mean, they didn't publish my submission because it's not something that they usually use, but they liked it enough to offer me the chance to write for them.
I started writing for them, under the condition that my first few articles would be published online only, and would be done pro bono (not paid). I didn't care, I was excited for the prospect of eventually getting published in print by them. I went out and interviewed a bunch of people, and I wrote my article to the best of my abilities, knowing full well that it was just going to be published online, but I still needed to do good. I needed to prove to them that my words would be good enough to be published in print by them one day.
Apparently I proved that point rather well. I sent in my first draft, not expecting much, just some notes on potential changes, and the like. Instead I got an email back from my editor saying that it was amazing and that nothing would really have to change. And then she asked if I was okay with it being published in print. And, since it was going to be in print, I would be getting paid for it. With zero hesitation, and zero chill if you're so inclined, I said I was totally okay with that.
This all started with an unsolicited submission that I had forgotten about. From the submission I got a chance to write online content for this magazine. And once they had read this article, they decided to put it in print making me a professional writer. After a minimum of rejection letters, I became a professional writer.
I had almost given up on the dream of becoming a professional writer. I almost gave up on writing. My depression had started telling me that I wasn't good. That no one would ever want to read my writing. And I listened, and I started to believe. I almost gave up on my dreams when I was at my lowest point. I probably would have, if it wasn't for that submission I forget existed. And now things have switched around completely. My dream has been realized. I haven't published a novel yet, but the possibility of that becoming a reality is much stronger now.
Dreams can come true. No matter what people are telling you, no matter what you're telling yourself! Your dreams can come true! As long as you are trying to make them happen, they can.
I think this is my longest non-short-story blog post. Huh. You're welcome.
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