Don’t make it your goal to be published, become a better writer instead
When I first started writing short stories a few years ago, I thought that getting published would be easier. I began submitting my short stories: one to a contest and then two others to the same literary journal. I hoped that I’d get a yes to at least one of my submissions.
But what I ended up getting instead was a very big reality check.
I realized just how difficult it can be to craft a well-structured short story. You only have so much time and space to make a point. To show a moment in a character’s life. To set up conflict and suspense.
I learned that writing a short story is truly an art. One that I think is sorely underrated in favour of the novel. Looking back, I also realize it was naïve to expect more results from such a small output.
This understanding was further solidified by a passage I read in Anne Lamott’s Bird by Bird: Some Instructions on Writing and Life. Her students asked her how’d they go about finding an agent. Her response shows that they were asking the wrong question:
“However, in the meantime, we are going to concentrate on writing itself, on how to become a better writer, because, for one thing, becoming a better writer is going to help you become a better reader, and that is the real…
