Tag Archives: L. M. May news

Working on a Problem Changes Everything

Posted on October 17, 2010 | Comments Off

I used to have what I nicknamed “submissions block.”   I wrote, but I had a near phobia about submitting my work to editors or letting readers see it.  To help deal with that problem I started this blog back in the fall of 2008.

And over time, this blog helped me deal with that borderline phobia and move past it.  I began to submit my work to editors, and let readers see it.   I’ve also been getting feedback behind the scenes these past few months from some of the best editors in my genre.  As a result of all this work, what I need from this blog is changing.

I’m getting very close to being published.

So the focus and format of this blog will change over the next six months.  I will continue to try to post on Sundays, but the topics will probably expand beyond writing subjects.   The appearance of the website will also change.

I’ve really appreciated the emails I’ve received offline from readers of this website this past year.

Tiny changes over time can change a life beyond recognition.  I am no longer the writer I was back in 2008–I’ve come a long way since then.  I still have a long way to go, but I’m unstuck and moving faster and faster each month.

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Posted in Admin stuff, L. M. May, News, Psychology of writing, Submissions block

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The Value of Seeking Out Editor Rejections

Posted on October 3, 2010 | Comments Off

It used to be that the short stories I submitted for publication got nothing but form rejection letters back.  But in the last three months that’s been changing–the letters are coming back at times with personal comments from the editors.  Considering how little free time editors have, if this happens to you, celebrate it, because it means you’ve gotten good enough in your writing that they want to encourage you.   Editors are continually swamped with manuscripts and work–to take a few precious minutes out of their schedule to say something personal to you is a big deal.

And a few days ago, I got a letter of the “we really like this novelette, but it’s too long for us” variety from a major science fiction publication.  Again, this is a milestone to celebrate if it happens to you.  It means that story was good enough to sell.

So, I took those stories, found new markets to submit them to, and mailed them off.    Why not just self-publish them?

Two reasons:  1) Quality control, and 2) audience.

Like any other writer, I am unable to be objective about my own abilities.  So I like to submit my work for traditional publication to editors because it tells me how I’m doing as far as skill level.   I want to know if I’m reaching “pro” level or not in my stories.    If a story isn’t at a “pro” level, I’d rather it sat in drawer than self-publish it.   However, if it was good enough to get a personal letter from an editor, but a hard sell due to length (such as novelette and novella), chances are that once I ran out of traditional markets, I’d look into self-publishing it.

The other reason to consider traditional publishing for a short story is the available audience.  Think about it.   If you get a short story in THE NEW YORKER, you’ve just reached a huge potential reading audience.  Even the smaller periodicals will give you exposure to hundreds, even thousands, of readers who might not hear of you otherwise.

There’s two chapters in Kristine Kathryn Rusch’s Freelancer’s Guide that also tend to haunt me whenever I get impatient with the slow pace of submitting my work.   Check out Giving Up On Yourself Part One, and Part Two.

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Posted in Business of writing, Craft of writing, Editors, L. M. May, Learning the craft of writing, News

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Question: Why don’t you self-publish your fiction?

Posted on May 2, 2010 | Comments Off

Question:  Why don’t you self-publish your fiction?

Answer:   The main reason is that I used to suffer a near-phobic block in submitting my work.   Part of the process of permanently curing that block is submitting my work on a regular basis to editors.  Self-publishing would interfere with the desensitization process I’m undergoing.

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Posted in Admin stuff, L. M. May, Psychology of writing, Submissions block

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Dealing with Submissions Block

Posted on November 21, 2009 | Comments Off

As I’ve talked about before in previous posts, I’ve had trouble with writer’s block and submissions block, which is why I like to post about them in the hopes of helping some other writer down the road.

The writer’s block problem I was able to successfully deal with a couple of years ago.

My final steps in dismantling submissions block only happened about a month ago.  Until then, I could count the number of submissions I’d done to fiction editors over my entire life on my fingers (no toes needed).   This blockage continued for years despite getting requests to see more of my work from former editors at Asimov’s and Tor.   Instead I ran away as fast I could.

The truth of the matter is that I had a phobia about showing my work to other human beings, and until it was dealt with, I wasn’t going to go anywhere.

In the end, it took what psychologists call “desensitization.”  Like someone afraid of spiders, I had to to develop a detailed campaign to slowly dismantle the submissions block.

And so I did.   I started this blog as a way to deal with the problem, and as the block fades away, I suspect this blog will change.   I fell silent here for almost two months as I dealt with the severe stress of getting queries out in an organized determined manner for the first time ever.

I find that rejection itself is okay, and I can deal with it fine.  The mundane reality of rejections is much less frightening than the bizarre phobic fears I once had.

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Posted in Admin stuff, L. M. May, News, Psychology of writing, Submissions block, Writer's block

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I’ve realized I’m writing letters in internet bottles, not a blog

Posted on March 31, 2009 | Comments Off

I’ve gone and changed the description of this site (i.e. the subtitle), since I don’t post regularly enough to call it a “blog.”  It’s more like short letters I write, stick into bottles, and then toss onto the internet seas.

Everything got backed up posting-wise as I’ve been trying to find the time to watch uninterrupted an interview with Richard Peck before I post, but I think it best at this point I skip it and do a post on Scott McCloud tomorrow since that one is ready to go.

The more I think about it, the more I realize this isn’t a blog.  It’s more a slowly built “thought map” where I’m trying to write notes that can be of help to other fiction writers.  I’ve tried to index categories and tags in such a way that users can easily look for all the posts on a subject such as “writer’s block.”

Anyways, I’ll do my best to post on at least a weekly basis, though my fiction writing must come first, so there may be points where I’m delayed.

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Posted in Admin stuff, L. M. May, News

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What matters most to you as a writer?

Posted on December 4, 2008 | Comments Off

As you can see, I went on hiatus from this blog for about two months.  Part of it had to do with major writing commitments I made in early October, and part of it was an old-fashioned case of writer’s block brought on by putting too much pressure on myself on what this blog had to provide.

There are only 24 hours in a day.  You have to decide which writing is most important to you, and do that writing first.  My first love is fiction writing, and I spent my available time rewriting a 553-page novel manuscript down to around 400 pages.  But for someone whose passion is writing blogs, blogging would come first in the time available.  Figure out what you care about most, and write that first; the rest is just gravy.

Writer’s block often comes about when we demand perfection from ourselves.  Even though I started this blog with the intention of just having fun, after awhile old bad habits reasserted themselves, and I put pressure on myself to get things “right” (the rightness being defined in such a vague way in my mind that there was no way I could reach it).  And then I started feeling guilty about not blogging, which made the block worse, and so the cycle continued until now.  We’ll see if I’ve finally got this blog block under control.

I have a half-finished commentary on WHISPER OF THE HEART to come.  This time I’ll just have fun with it, instead of turning it into a class assignment for a grade in my head.  I am also going to open up this blog to anything in the arts (as it relates to writing or the writer’s life) that catches my interest–such as musician Jonathan Coulton’s making a living as an artist using the internet.

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Posted in L. M. May, News, Psychology of writing, Writer's block

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