Hello from the Writing Attic!

As a person in this world who grew up in a hot, humid place like South Central Texas, I absolutely despise winter time. I hate the cold, it hurts my bones, and no, bundling up and burrowing under blankets does not appeal to me. In Nashville, it starts getting dark around 4:00 PM. I mean, come tf on.

However, as a writer in this world, I love this time of year. This is actually my favorite time of year to hunker down and write a book (which is what I’ve been doing.)

I love getting up before the sun rises, when everything else is really dark and quiet, and it’s just me and my coffee and the last quilt my grandmother made for me. I go upstairs to the pink attic, turn the lights on, and let it glow out to the neighborhood. No one else may be up yet but work is being done in this house, specifically this attic.

I set a timer, warm my hands on my mug, pull the quilt around my shoulders. I look at the pages scattered around me, look at the scrawled notes. I wake the computer up and pick up where I left off. Just me, my coffee, my blanket, and my words. And usually the kitten, curled up in my lap because she’s too cold to cause trouble.

I’m still working my way through a first draft on this book, the same book that I’ve been drafting for about three years now. That’s just how it goes. That’s what it takes, at least for me and this particular book.

In the summer, when the sun wakes up before I do, it’s too easy to feel like I’ve already lost track of the day before it’s started. The words on the page don’t look as good in the light of the day, and these words need to feel good. There needs to be a sense of grogginess, of a dream. There needs to be dark and quiet. Steam from the coffee cup. A bundled blanket with a kitten cuddled up forcing me to sit still, wait, write. Might as well get after it.

Now let’s gossip.

Submission Success Story: “The Coma,” for Natural Bridge

Look, all my stories are near and dear to my heart. But this one was extra special because it paid homage to my two best gals here in Nashville.

I’ve always wondered if I’m actually dead and what I’m experiencing right now is just a my brain’s hallucination on its way out, Owl Creek Bridge-style. Another friend of mine is convinced she’s actually in a coma and none of this is happening. Our other friend is nothing but supportive of both of our fantasies, be they dark or not. She’s always going to be our ride or die, no matter how often we try to cancel each other or fight like enraged siblings.

From this dynamic, “The Coma” was born. A divorcee is convinced she’s dead, though her friends convince her to settle for it being a coma. And since it’s a coma, that means she’ll eventually wake up—with a little help from her squad, of course.

After 27 rejections and nearly a year on submission, this one was nominated for a Pushcart Prize, my first and so far only nomination.

Here’s the stats:

Drafts before submission: 6 or 7. Took about one week to draft and a month to polish up, with feedback from reading partners, and feedback from my gals. Got consent from both to submit the story for publication. Yes, it’s fiction. But it can be difficult even to see a slight lift of yourself in a story, even if the story doesn’t follow reality. I never want to surprise anyone if I know and they know they’ll recognize themselves in a story. Consent is queen.

Total time spent on submission: 10 months, 2 days

Response time from Natural Bridge: 64 days

Total rejections received before an acceptance: 27 total. 19 form, 6 not form, not personal, 2 close calls, and 1 acceptance.

Pay: Zero. But I got that sweet Pushcart nom + a great relationship with the editor.

Natural Bridge was yet another print publication that got decimated by the pandemic. I was lucky enough to be pubbed in the final issue that went to print. They’re still operating, but now solely online under the umbrella of Boulevard, another pub I’d love to be in one day.

Must-Read: “The Long, Messy Road to Publishing My Novel,” from Lincoln Michel’s Counter Craft Substack

I am currently on a long, messy road of publishing or not publishing my first novel and also on the long, messy road of drafting my second novel. I needed this, badly.

Michel goes into the nuts and bolts of his own messy writing process when it came to his novel, The Body Scout. I was pleased and relieved to see that it mirrors my own, which means that there’s not really a process, it’s just a lot of writing, rewriting, false starts, printing, re-printing, rewriting again, copy and pasting, and so on and so forth until the book is done. I’ll wager a guess that may mirror your own processes as well. In other words, all processes are valid—just do the work until it’s done.

Read it here.

Also, Mike Ingram, books editor at Barrelhouse, has a pretty good Twitter thread here about what new writers need to know about submissions. I’ll throw my advice into the thread, which is that publishing is 10% talent and 90% persistence, luck, and timing. If my submission success stories with the rejection numbers don’t already make that exceedingly clear.

Celebrations Required!

• Remember that Writers Ask from the last newsletter about what to do when two great pubs accept your work at the same time? Here’s that piece in question now pubbed at Hippocampus! “The Gradual Extinction of Softness” from Kim Green and Chantha Nguon.

• Dear friend and reading partner, Ashley Roth, had her personal essay, “No Amount of Planning” published with Embrace Your Unicorn. I’m so proud of her courage in telling this important story! (Content warning: fertility/pregnancy loss, abortion, and pregnancy trauma)

Congratulations to all!