When you search the web for a list of writers who didn’t “make it big” until later in life, you come across people like Toni Morrison, Anthony Burgess, Raymond Chandler and the Marquis de Sade. A literary list of this sort is likely the only place you will find these figures side by side. I spend my time reading over such lists because, at 27, I feel way behind. Staying connected to the broader literary community via social media reinforces this mindset. I’ll be thirty in a few short years, with no MFA and only two publications to my name. For any other latecomers reading this, consider this damming fact: When he was my age, Sherman Alexie had already won the PEN/Hemmingway Award for “The Lone Ranger and Tonto Fistfight in Heaven” (which I, admittedly, haven’t ready yet, though its on my list).
This is the first in a series of posts detailing my first ventures into publishing a short story. I’ll be writing about what I wish I had known during those first few months. If you are looking for advice, stop reading and head back to Google. I know there are hundreds of articles and posts with the title “How to Get Published.” I’ve read a few of them, and I typically find them more disorienting than helpful. If you are seeking advice on how to get published in a particular market, you are likely to find interviews with editors that are often illuminating.
Instead of advice, I will be presenting how I began the journey that led to my first fiction publication, while pointing out where I went wrong and what I may have (often accidentally) done right.