Since I discovered it in 2000, I've not only loved the magazine Fantasy & Science Fiction, but it's been a goal of mine to get published in it's lofty pages.
A tough goal, for sure, but one I think worth pursuing. It's my own personal Holy Grail. More than getting a novel published, more than getting published anywhere else, I simply must get into F&SF someday, even if that day is years and years from now.
Back in 2000 when I was young and fresh and didn't know much about the craft of writing and getting published -- I only knew that I loved writing stories -- I sent a lot of really bad work to F&SF. Really bad. I'm amazed I got any response at all, much less the kind, personalized rejections I received.
Then life happened and I stopped writing short stories for a while, and then I stopped working on my novel for a while.
Now I'm back, and I'm a little more seasoned. I've been in critique groups and have partners and mentors helping me with the mechanics of putting a quality story together through tight, thoughtful prose. (At least, I like to think so.)
So I keep going. Keep typing. Keep making stories happen, one word at a time.
It may take my entire lifetime, but I will get a story in that magazine. I owe it to a wide-eyed, naive young 20something writer, full of hope and pride and short on common sense, to see this done.
No comments:
Post a Comment