15/2/2023 0 Comments I GOT PUBLISHED!G'day everyone, How about that post title, hey? I wanted to not only share my good news but also put some context around my thoughts and feelings throughout the process. Side note: How awesome is that picture that Nightmare Fuel Magazine used for it? Before I go on though, here's a link to the story https://nightmarefuelmagazine.com/2023/02/15/baby-love-by-mark-dray/ I hope you got over to have a read of it. Any readers of my previous post, will know that I've set myself some goals this year in regards to pushing my work out there into the universe. I followed Nightmare Fuel on twitter and when I saw that they were asking for submissions (word limit of 666 words) with the theme of 'Love Has Teeth' I was keen to enter. I didn't really have an idea to start with but I'd just completed a straight horror story for the NYC midnight competition and I wanted to explore writing a horror/humour story. I had a ton of fun writing 'Baby Love' and was happy with the result. I did like I'm assuming all good writers do, I hit submit and crossed my fingers. It wasn't long before I received an email saying the magazine was going to accept my submission but there were some edits to do to my story. Let me say this, any time I get feedback on my writing I more then welcome it. So I dove into the edits and returned my story within 24 hours. They were happy, I was happy and I got the contributors contract and signed away. I was over the moon that they were willing to publish 'Baby Love' and shared the news with family and friends. BUT, then something changed for me. The schedule for releasing stories was about 2-3 per week and mine didn't get released until the 2nd week. I eagerly read my fellow contributors and with each story I became more and more anxious about my story. Why? Truthfully, I thought the other authors stories kicked the shit out of mine. I really contemplated asking mine not to be published because I didn't think it was even in the same universe as what was getting released. I probably would have gone through with trying to get it pulled if I hadn't voiced my concerns to Emma and got the following reply. I laughed at the bluntness of the opening line but I wouldn't want it any other way (good or bad really). I won't share the rest of the email but it was the encouragement that I needed so I kept any further doubts to myself.
Overall, my first publishing experience kicked arse and now I can even update my website with a Published! page. Thanks to Emma and Nightmare Fuel Magazine I'll definitely be keen to work with them again in the future.
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