Short and Sweet #4
by Annette Dammer
Rifle through your files! Jiggle your journal! Check your email - the SENT files! Just take a quick run through - scan as much as possible. Somewhere in there you will freeze, sigh, feel... And you'll know that's the one...
Now - set aside 30 minutes. A half sitcom... That's all. Take that treasure and type it up. It's truly simple. Just make sure to add your name & contact info at the top, followed with FIRST RIGHTS on the final line. (Don't know your writers' rights? http://www.teenlight.org/ 4rights.htm) Double space the body. Address an envelope to your favorite magazine (make sure it fits there!) and a SASE to yourself. Put the envelopes on the counter beside your coffee maker. Email one to a writer friend to inspire them - DON'T send to a Critical Cathy! You want to make it to the mail! Then, mail one to yourself so you get an extra nudge.
And... a day or two later... do a QUICK edit. Run spell check. Print & stick it in the envelope with a SASE. Don't go for perfection - go for the Post Office! ANYTHING is better than letting your best grow moldy & forgotten! Even Hemingway had stacks of moldy boxes of brilliance in his Key West paradise. It always bothered him... Been There, Done That...
I heard this a few weeks back... "I can't get published. I write every day and I can't get published." "Where have you sent your work," I asked. "I haven't," he answered. "Then you are right," I answered with a smile. "You CAN'T get published. "Send me something, I'll help you," I finished. "I suspect you truly ARE a writer." I left him a card and my prayers. The next time I saw him, he scuttled out the door, pretending not to see me. How often do I do the same with opportunity?
Let us know what you find... or what you're writing!
--Teen Light - www.teenlight.org
--Journalism Online: www.writershelper.org/tour.htm/
--Ready, Set, GO! due out Spring, 2003 by Baker Books