I just received word that one of my stories was accepted for publication. It’s a real cause for celebration--not just because every acceptance is cause for celebration, but because of the circumstances leading up to it!
I started writing in 2006. Within a couple of months, I started getting acceptances. I wrote for all of 2006 with amazing results--I received plenty of rejections, but my acceptances-to-rejections ratio was very encouraging. Maybe I really was a writer after all.
But then I wrote a short for a fantasy anthology. They rejected the story as not being quite right for the anthology, but they loved the story and the character. They said that if I ever turned it into a novel, they’d like to see it. So that’s what I did. But something happened in the editing process. I don’t know if it’s just because I hate editing and editing something the size of a novel was too overwhelming or if it was because I had never written a fantasy before (horror is my usual genre). I got writer’s block. Actually, writer’s block isn’t strong enough to describe what I had. Writer’s coma or dead muse are better descriptions. I got halfway through editing and everything froze.
I spent the next year to year-and-a-half drifting. There were some other things going on in my life that weren’t working for me, either. I decided I had to do something to shake things up. So I went out and got myself a job.
After a year and a half of working the job, I decided to see if my muse was ready for resurrection. And it seems to have worked. I started in January. I’ve written two new stories and revised three old ones (only one of the new ones has been sent out--the other is still in revision). Of the four sent out, one has been accepted so far. I feel like I’ve finally gotten my groove back.
Of course, being the doubting Thomas that most writers are, I won’t consider my groove officially back until I get a new story accepted (the one accepted is a revised old one). Then I’ll really feel like I haven’t lost my touch. But still--even getting an old one accepted is a major milestone and a sure sign to keep pounding at the keyboard.
