It’s been about a year since I’ve posted on this Substack, as most of my 24 followers are friends and family who already know what I’ve been up to. But for the three of you who aren’t, I’ll sum it up.
Last year, I came to LA to write for TV, had some great meetings, and then the industry promptly imploded. I’ve been rejected out-of-hand by all the full-time jobs I’ve applied to, so I’ve been tutoring to support my extravagant lifestyle of living alone in a sunless studio near Skid Row and owning an old car that keeps breaking down. It’s been a really rough year, and I keep thinking, “it has to get better from here,” and then I discover that my car needs a $2k repair, or that a client has canceled their session for the week. Oh, and I’m rounding the corner to thirty in a few months.
I don’t mean to sound ungrateful. I’m grateful for so much, especially the friends who have supported me with their feedback, food, and the simple pleasure of their presence (that’s you!) I’m grateful to have family and a partner who shower me with unconditional love and support, who believe in me more than I believe in myself. I’m grateful that I have time, shelter, and security, as I am frequently reminded that these things are far from given in today’s world.
I’ve been working on my novel “Immoral Purposes”, a fuck-it project that fulfills a yearslong obsession I’ve had with its main character and her story. For those of you I haven’t yapped to about it yet, it’s about a young Chinese woman in 1880s California who escapes sex trafficking and seeks revenge on her abusers. I wrote this novel in the crevices of my life. I would sneak in a few hundred words here and there during my breaks in the teacher’s lounge, or go to a coffee shop after school and tap out a thousand. Finally, in July, I completed the 82k-word first draft. Now, to revise. If anyone has experience or advice for revising a novel, chat me up.
This year, I also started writing short stories as a way to develop my relationship with the craft of writing and to stop craving external validation so much. Then, just for laughs, I started submitting my short stories to publications. Then, they started getting published, and now those cravings for validation are stronger than ever.
I’d never even considered short stories as a medium. I’ve always been a screenwriting girl, but this year I’ve realized that short stories are especially great for short-term explorations of speculative, emotional, or situational ideas. If I have a compelling idea and don’t want to commit to turning it into a whole TV show, or a 90-page feature script, or a 80k word novel, a short story is the perfect vehicle for a brief, complete concept exploration. If a novel is a seven-course meal, a short story is a single tapa, a satisfying morsel that leaves room for more.
For my writer friends who are interested in these little dopamine hits, the timeline for publishing a short story goes like this:
Tap out a banger in 3 hours like a tortured genius
Revise it for a few days, and friends determine if it sucks or it’s great (about 50/50)
Submit it to a few hand-picked publications
Wait
Wait more
Wait even more, get a rejection or three
After 3-5 months, a publication sends that glorious email saying they want the story
After 1-3 more months, the story is published
Paycheck! ((sometimes)) Enough for two weeks of groceries and coffee, but not enough for rent.
I’m using the “100 Rejections A Year” framework to track my submissions. The idea is to reframe rejection by experiencing, well, a lot of it. I’m at about 26 submissions, 14 rejections, and 3 acceptances. I probably won’t make it to 100 rejections this year, but I’m hopeful for 50. I’m happy to share it with anyone who wants, or you can also find it on the Flash Fiction Magazine author resources page. I’ve also found the Submissions Grinder at Diabolical Plots somewhat useful for submissions stats at certain publications. Lastly, I’m always looking for feedback buddies, so if anyone wants to exchange short story drafts, reach out!
If you’d like to read my published stories, they are:
A Perfectly Normal Date in Silver Lake, at Flash Fiction Magazine
The Optimal You, at Uncharted Magazine
(something forthcoming in 101 Words in October)
Until next time,
Your friend Irene