"Two wrongs may not make a right but a thousand wrongs make a writer.”

Tuesday, March 26, 2013

Dust It Off and Send It In

There's a feature in Poets and Writers called "Ask An Agent" wherein they pose questions to some of the best literary agents in the business. I've seen a lot of my questions answered in this forum, especially in regards to the all-important query letter.

Do you write short stories? There's a great contest at Narrative you might want to check out, but you only have until the end of the month. Ploughshares is also taking submissions for their Emerging Writer's Contest until April 1st. Write in the winter, submit in the spring, eavesdrop in the summer (and take notes), and travel in the fall. (The kids are back in school and the tourists are gone.)

Wouldn't it be nice to stick to that routine? Well, if you have a short story you never quite finished, dust it off, wrap it up, and send it in. Listen in on the world around you and write it down.

Seems March is going out in these parts the same way she came in-like Old Man Winter with a toothache, a bad attitude, and an ingrown toenail.

4 comments:

Jemi Fraser said...

I really should try my hand at writing shorts one of these days! I dont' feel conident in them, and they always end up with a very different tone than my regular stuff!

Yvonne Osborne said...

Jemi,
Short stories aren't easy, that's for sure.

Anne Gallagher said...

I love short stories, but don't have anything good to send right now. maybe over the summer I'll be able to get back into writing those.

Yvonne Osborne said...

Hi Anne,
I'm kinda in the same bind. I've been spending so much time editing my novel and preparing it for querying, I've let the shorts slide. Oh...this is a hard game to play.