Just Out of the Egg

As a new author on this site I have submitted four stories, three of them published thus far. I was elated with most of the comments I received on the first submission (Switch) as for the first time I had gotten feedback on something I had created. Finding beta readers has been an impossible task locally, not that I hadn't tried. It took a lot of courage to submit this first story and afterwards I felt better despite the substantial flaws that had been pointed out. I had certainly been too eager to submit it and keep it short. So here goes:

First lesson learned- write what needs to be told, don't shorten the story to some imagined page limit. Let the story play itself out. It rewards both the reader and yourself. My later submissions have borne this thesis out.

Second lesson- some readers don't like your story, or seemingly even the category. Their comments are generally not useful as they simply tell you they didn't like it without a reason. I can't help but wonder if they take the time to cast a vote or not; or if they do, if it reflects the true value/quality of the writing. On the other hand I have noticed some who give almost any story a five regardless as to whether it is well written or not. Go figure.

Third lesson- other author's comments are more useful and the suggestions they offer really help. Those are the comments that have propelled me forward and make me eager to perfect my craft. I am so grateful for those authors/readers who take the time to offer their perspectives and experience.

Fourth lesson- don't let the score take control of your ambitions. I was simply thrilled when my later two submissions (Poon Tang and Almost Human) won greater acceptance and went 'hot' on and off. After a few days I grew a little less enthused with this metric. Indeed, the scores reflected my own judgement of how each of them compared with the other in terms of quality. So I appreciate the score has value even to me if I keep everything in perspective. I have my favorites and readers certainly have theirs. But I have to remind myself that I need to write for myself to be good. I see most other stories that rank higher generally have more graphic sexual details. That's not me and I will just have to accept the readership really likes those stories better.

Fifth lesson- it takes time to learn to navigate the website site and to make use of writer's resources. I found that I was trying to contact volunteer editors for my third story without success, not getting any response. I went back and re-read the instructions and found I was not using the form correctly. Once I figured that out I contacted a potential editor for my planned next story and received a positive reply. Had my draft reviewed and returned with comments a day later. I was overjoyed with getting this kind of help and feedback. But then after submitting the second part of the story didn't receive any additional feedback. So I have to remember everyone has a life to live and the best I can do as an author is to submit a draft that is as error free as I can.

So as a newbie I appreciate more than ever the essay by Goldeniangel (What I Don't Understand). She hits all the marks and says it better then I think I would have.

One thing she mentioned was something I had observed myself and bothered me; probably more than it should. When I follow up on comments by looking at the person's bio most of them have not submitted anything for publication. I can accept that, they are readers. They are potentially who I am attempting to reach. But since I write mostly for a target audience of females the lack of gender identity in the great majority of bios leaves me with a data gap.

Am I reaching my target audience in terms of gender? I don't know. Though I admit without apology that I'm very pleased anyone is reading what I create and finding it enjoyable regardless of gender identify. Still, at least that that field would be useful if filled out and it wouldn't seem to degrade efforts to protect privacy.

So I can say at this point that I am grateful for the feedback I have received and look forward to becoming a more productive and giving member of the community. Thanks to all for taking time to read this commentary of my humble start and what I have learned. Now it's time to get back to some imaginative writing.

Shoot, did I write that story idea down somewhere?