2 Out of 32: Submit to a Literary Journal

I'm happy to report that I've completed my 2nd accomplishment on my 32 before 32 challenge.  That was to send a work of fiction to a literary magazine.  I've been a freelance writer professionally (in addition to my full time jobs) for over five years.  I've had success with getting service pieces and personal essays published.  I have always love writing fiction though too.

When I had less work commitments I used to belong to a writing group that would meet once a week and critique each other's chapters.  I really miss being able to do that.  In 2013 I did very little writing because I was focused primarily on other things that were going on in my life.  So this year I want to make writing a priority again.  I had a vignette style novel I had been working on several years ago.  The origins and some of the pieces for this novel go back as far as college.  I reworked the first three chapters of this over the past few weeks and have been sharing my first vignette of the series with a couple of writer friend/colleagues whose opinions I really value.

For some reason I've always been afraid to send out my fiction.  In fact I haven't sent out fiction since I had a short story published in my college literary magazine when I was a student.  So I got up the nerve to send my fiction out to a publication and I plan on sending out more of my work throughout this year. It doesn't matter if it gets accepted or rejected.  What matters is I had the guts to put it out there.

Photograph by Rachel K