Submission Island

Lately, I have been swamped by writer’s block.  I’ve tried all the tricks and tips, but the motivation to write was fleeting.  Sure, I whipped up a page here or there, but overall I’ve made little to no progress on any of my writing goals.  So, I decided to challenge myself to select free contests and submit a few short stories here and there each month.

At first, I was excited.  I was writing again!  Sure, the contest prompts were leading the way, but at least words were getting on the paper.  Then came a lull, and I realized I was stranded on submission island.  With no feedback, it is often hard to know how to feel when a submission is  rejected because it feels more like it was ignored or not appreciated for it’s true value.  It also begins to feel like a waste of time.

After some time pondering this strange new world of writing contest submissions, I decided that it can never be a waste of time to stretch myself creatively and, at the end of the day, I have been writing  more than I have in the past few months.  Heck, I’m even blogging up a post now!  I will continue to write entries and submit as I can, and one day, the right publication will appreciate my style and story.  And, if after all the time and effort and formatting and rule following, they don’t, that’s okay too.  I don’t write to win contests, I write so I don’t implode.

While I continue to be stuck between two novels, (one that needs to be utterly rewritten and one that I need to write but am unsure of how to proceed without a lawsuit) I will continue to strand myself on submission island over and over until I get off the stinking island.  Hope I can at least find a volleyball somewhere around here…