Tuesday, February 15, 2011

From steamroller casualty to acceptance

I am utterly pleased to announce that my short story, "The Employer", has been accepted to The First Line magazine. The steamrollers have been vanquished and a gold star has been plunked on the top of my paper.

Thank you to all the wonderful people who critiqued this story. Your suggestions made it shine. As this story was part of my November writing frenzy, I can finally say that something I wrote during NaNoWriMo has become something worthwhile!

The Employer is the third story I've written for this magazine. The first two didn't make the cut. I was drawn the idea of the first line prompt and find them quite inspiring. It's one of those shove the prompt in the back of your head, percolate it for awhile and see what the old twisted mind comes up with things. Since they post the prompts for the year well in advance, there's plenty of time to ponder.

Not only do you have to write a story that hasn't been done a billion times, you have to start it with the same first line as everyone else. The trick is to think outside the box that all the other bunches of outside-the-box-thinking creative people are thinking outside of when they read that first line. Now, if that doesn't make your head hurt, you should go write down whatever just popped into your head, because its sure to be something you can work with.

6 comments:

  1. Congrats!!! This is great, and I am so thrilled for you. A tough magazine to crack, but you made it! :-)

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  2. Woo-hoo! Congrats Jean. I may have no publication credits of my own, but it's nice to have had a small hand, nay, the merest tip of a pinkie fingernail, in the critiquing process that led to a success :)

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  3. Congrats, Jean! No doubt this will be the first publication credit in a list of many. :-) Go celebrate!

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  4. @Ian - Thank you for your fingernail shavings, they were very helpful. ;) Now get back to writing so you can get a publication credit of your own. :D

    @Liz - Thanks! This is my second short to be published actually. The first was a wonderful feeling. The second makes me feel truly validated. Now, to try for a third (and to take myself out to lunch to celebrate)!

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  5. Congratz!! That's a reason to celebrate for sure! :)

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