Submit your writing, You are ready!

 

                                    Photo by Yannick Pulver on Unsplash

What stops you from submitting your writing? There are a ton of magazines on the stands filled with words. There are numerous online sites wanting your writing, and there are people like you hoovering over the submit button. What is stopping you?

Self-esteem- This is one of the worst fears. It rears its ugly head when you type when you look for places to submit to, and it talks you out of sharing your work at all. You type or write your piece to submit but you feel you are not good enough. You feel you haven't written as long as others and you should keep reading and not writing to submit, but let me say this, you will not know if you will get published if you do not try. Our self-esteem can stop us or it can take a bump and say, you CAN do it! Turn that fear down into background noise, rise above it, write your best piece, and submit.

Judgment from others- Your friends laugh and ask if you are serious. Family scoffs at the mere suggestion that you could make any money for writing. We hear, "There is no real money in writing." Plenty of people have made a living off of writing. Not at first, maybe not their first book, but maybe a piece you write gets retweeted by someone you admire who writes, fist bump! Maybe you get feedback from a writing friend with encouraging notes in the margins, fist bump. Maybe it is your inner critic saying, who do you think you are writing and submitting pieces? Judgment comes from many people and angles. The hard part is discerning which comments are helpful and throwing the rest out with the bath water. (It's an old saying, not my fault)

Not knowing who to submit to, so you don't submit to anyone.- This one is huge. Yes, you can google places that take submissions, but you need to think about your genre of writing. If you write about home repair, you may not want to submit that to a Christian magazine that has a call out to ask about pieces of how God healed you in the last year. If you write for a certain magazine, do your research and see what kinds of pieces they are interested in getting sent to them. Maybe make a spreadsheet, or write on a piece of paper the places you want to submit to, when they are putting out a call for new submissions, and which ones you send pieces to and what date you sent them. Trust me you will want to keep a list. It gets wonky after a while when you cannot remember who you sent what to. You can thank me later. I learned that the hard way. Sometimes places do not take submissions you sent to another publication. They want it only sent them to. When you look at the requirements of the site it will tell you if you can do multiple submissions or if they want it only for their company.

Submissions-Now what do you need to do to get that submission ready? First, write your piece aimed at the audience of the certain site you are submitting to. Check for spelling errors. Maybe use your computer to read it back to you. Sometimes you catch things in the hearing of your writing that you may not in the reading of it on the screen. Don't have that feature, no worries, read your piece allowed. I know it seems weird when you are the only one in the room, but it helps. Of if you have a supportive loved one who will listen and be constructive, read it to them. Other people hearing the piece out loud will help as well with your meaning, your word choice, and the overall aesthetic of your piece.

Remember to proofread, write how you speak, and your work will flow. Not all pieces you write are going to be winners but like everything else in life, practice, practice, practice. It helps you hone your skills, it will get you published, and it possibly may get you even paid for your writing. Submit your best work to the most appropriate site and good luck to you. 

YES, you can write, yes you can look for a call for writing online, yes you can submit to magazines, and the biggest yes, YOU CAN DO HARD THINGS! This gets easier the more you do it. Fear takes a back seat and eventually rides in the trunk. 

Submit your work. The world is ready to hear your voice. They just need you to do your part first.

I know you got this. SUBMIT YOUR WORK!

And reach out to me when you get your piece on a website or in a magazine. I would love to read it!.

Thank you, 

Your friend,

Debbie

xoxoxoxo

PS, now log off and go write!