Monday 26 October 2009

A More Important Milestone!

I have been published!!!

My flash fiction piece, 'The Apology' has been picked up on Robert McEvily's blog, Six Sentences and can be found here;

http://sixsentences.blogspot.com/2009/10/apology.html

It was written during a university workshop with Chris Killen, author of The Bird Room (and the rather fantastic short story Blue + Yellow), so I suppose I owe the guy a bit of kudos for suggesting the writing exercise that caused me to write it! And, I have to say, it's pretty cool to be able to say that someone out there liked me enough to publish me!

Anyway, check it out.
Samantha Stephens

Thursday 22 October 2009

An Important Milestone!

I got my first rejection letter (or e-mail, rather) today. From Poetry magazine. It went a little something like this;

"We're not going to be able to keep anything from this submission, we're sorry to say. Thank you, though, for letting us have a chance with your work."

That's a lot less words than what I submitted! But honestly, I feel perfectly fine about it. It was a complete and utter long shot, the idea of my very first submission to any magazine or literary journal being picked up by Poetry Magazine is pretty incalculable. But at least now I can say I gave it a try. I've started on my way to getting published and, despite the fact that it culminated in rejection, I feel a lot more confident about trying again. Surely the first 'no' is the hardest one to receive?

Actually, strike that last comment. I may change my mind after a few more months of rejection...

Either way, I better try and get a few more submissions out there!

Until next time, my minimal readership!
Samantha Stephens

Sunday 18 October 2009

Life, and what I know of it (so far)!

As a Creative Writing student, I am constantly being told of the importance of blogging. And as someone whose ambitions lie fully in the sphere of writing, I thought it was about time I gave it a go myself.

So, some basic information about me; I am twenty years old and lucky enough to come from Liverpool, an amazingly vibrant and cultural city. I am in my final year of a BA in Creative Writing and English Literature and am also admittedly terrified of the prospect of having to find a way to support myself outside of writing, which I know won't fund my rather expensive shoe and handbag habit!

As well as being new to blogging, I'm also pretty new to the whole scenario of submitting my work to journals and magazines. It wasn't until I started my degree in 2007 that I started writing for an audience that was wider than my own self, so it has took me longer than most to work up the courage to start submitting some of my work. So far, I have only made two submissions; one poetry and one fiction, and I have yet to hear back from either publication about them. I remain optimistic, as is my nature, but I am sure that will start to wear thin once the rejection letters start rolling in!

Ultimately, writing is the one thing that I have remained passionate about my whole life, ever since I was given my first certificate at school for an imaginative re-write of Goldilocks and the Three Bears. It is something which I find solace in, something that I can find myself so completely involved in that I could only live contentedly knowing that I can always return to it whenever I want. So, I figure that I'll use this blog to vent frustrations, celebrate my meager accomplishments and really just try and make myself feel more absorbed in the world of writing and authorship. Right now, I'm writing this for myself. But I'm hoping that someone somewhere will want to read or acknowledge my ramblings in some form or another.

So for now, best wishes to my one and only reader - me!
Samantha Stephens