First Submission (Gulp!) Away!

I sent off my first submission today, with only a touch of hyperventilation. A new story I wrote specifically for AntipodeanSF's guidelines. Time for a celebration dance! Bigbang! :-)

I hadn't really wanted to do that (write something specifically for a market - feels 'hack-y'), but truthfully I don't know yet what's the best way to get stuff published. When I don't know, I go into battering-ram mode, and hit at it until something works.

What else am I gonna do?

My other story was too long, and the story I'm editing is also too long for their consideration. Why send a story I know they'll reject? That doesn't seem like it really counts for my purposes here.

Is that being a hack? Making an effort to fit the material to the market?

I don't know. That's what this whole experiment is about - to gain the experience I lack.

And so, for submitting, I am a success!

And I got a polite response from the editor to 'wait and see'. Get this -

Hi Dianna,
Just a short note to say that your submission arrived here at AntipodeanSF safely and has been added to my reading queue. I will get back to you about it as soon as I can.
Ooroo for now,
Ion.

I had to look up 'ooroo', which sort of means 'goodbye' in Australian. And I Googled Ion the editor, who looks like a hippie version of Gandalf.

So my baby's in good, polite, nerdy hands. :-)

I've already decided that, when the rejections come in, I'll celebrate those with some sort of power blog or quote here, to keep my spirits up. I'm also NOT to rewrite anything unless an editor asks me to, otherwise I'll second-guess myself and rewrite the poor thing to pieces.

Also, if and when I get accepted, that's a serious celebration - like, a badge of honor. So I have this sweater that I'm going to sew a button on for every story accepted, and wear it like a general dresses up in all his or her stripes and medals. I need something substantial to look at and remind myself that I did accomplish something special.

Looking forward to it!