So What's Been Going On?

By Michael Seese

It's been a while since I've written about writing. So let's get you all up to speed.

First, I'm sad to say that I won't be going to Paris (not yet) because Eiffel didn't make the short list at the American Library In Paris. It's a bummer, to be sure. But, I still have another novel to my credit.

Looking to shake things up a little, I'm going to try a different tack for a bit. One of the agent blogs I read is by Chuck Sambuchino. A regular feature of his posts is "How I Got My Agent." Most authors offer tales of perseverance, or luck. But last week, I read about a different approach.

Michael Poore is an author whose debut novel is Up Jumps the Devil was praised by New York Times bestselling author Patrick deWitt as, “Part fable, part warped historical travelogue."

In Poore's own words:

I didn’t get my agent the traditional way.

I tried the traditional way, of course. I sent queries, I sent chapters, I sent samples and stories and clever letters, but they didn’t work.

In the end, an agent approached me. You could say this was an accident or a gift of chance, but you’d be wrong. The fact is, I concentrated on getting my work published in smaller markets, and it got noticed. You can make this work for you, too.

Poore's fiction has appeared in Glimmer Train, Fiction, Talebones, Southern Review, The Pinch, and other magazines. He has been nominated for the Pushcart Prize, the Fountain Award, and the Sturgeon Award.

So, I'm going to try a Poore man's version of his tack. My goal for October is to submit something, somewhere, every day.

To be honest, I really don't think I'll be able to do it.

To be certain, I do have a lot of poetry and flash fiction I can use. The challenge is finding the places to submit it. But I'm going to give it the old college try. So far, though, I'm off to a good start. Here is what I've done.

October 3: "Take Me Out To The Ballgame" (flash fiction) submitted to Pseudopod, which makes podcasts of literature they like.
October 4: I posted "Past / President / Future" (which I had submitted for an NPR contest) to Readwave. It's a website which puts your work "out there" for others to see, read, and comment on.
October 5: I submitted three haiku to Haiku Journal. Later that day, I learned one already had been accepted. And today (Monday) another was. They rejected the third. But what did Meatloaf say? "Two out of three ain't bad." Both appear in Issue 19.
October 6: "No Blues" (flash fiction) submitted to The Broken Plate.
October 7: "The Finest Life Yet" (another flash piece) submitted to 100 word story.

Yes, I'm giving myself a bye for October 1 and 2, since I didn't read about Poore until the 3rd.

Let's see how it goes...