Short Stories

I’m writing my first “short” story. You can’t possibly conceive how great an accomplishment this is for me. I’m used to writing long complicated things but since I’m planning on making more magazine submissions and each has their own word limit for obvious reasons… well, you see my point.

Since poetry isn’t my forte’ and I naturally feel more comfortable with fictional story telling it only makes sense I should pick the rout of short stories. I’m not sure I know enough about any one thing to write actual articles but mayhaps I’ll get to that point eventually.

I’ve decided to write something that will probably go into a Pagan/Wiccan magazine. The story is about a girl finding her way back to the Goddess. Not a religious story but a seasonal one. With autumn coming up it’s a great time, where one can see the Wheel of the Year in action more so than ever and it’s always felt so magickal to me no matter how much I dislike the cold. :)
The girl is sent by her elders to spend two days and a night in the woods. They had asked her what autumn means to her and she hadn’t been able to answer. She only agrees to go because now she is worried that she has lost touch with the Goddess. I’ll go through all three stages of the mother and include the triple Goddess as well I think.

I’ve always thought I couldn’t write short stories, but working through what’s hard for us may make everything else easier. I guess I just needed the proper inspiration. My inspiration being the feeling of autumn in the air. I know I’ve lost touch with the Goddess here and there and I wish I could say she inspired me but to do so would be a lie. Maybe in writing this I’ll bring her back into my main’ish line of sight again. I know she is always with me and within me and will never leave me but knowing and acknowledge feel like two different things.

Well, wish me luck all. In the writing I mean. If it doesn’t get accepted I won’t die, maybe internally but only if they send a nasty rejection letter and then only for a couple of weeks. The writing of this will be much more difficult, I hate work limits. Thank gods I have a word counter. I remember having to do that in school. Icky. I used to write each individual number over each individual word. It annoyed my 7th grade English teacher beyond compare, she always left notes telling me not to do it but I continued. For one it wasn’t harming anything, the numbers were light and small and in pencil. And second, I saw it as a way of helping her. :D The evilness of I.

Muse of the moment: Isis. She has this thing about pawing papa cat’s (Mowgli’s) tummy and kneading it. Then he turns around and smacks her. She comes back over and over again because she loves him very much though you can see her cringe each and every time she does this. It’s like telling me not to give up even though the end result may not be so great.

Confidence: My First Magazine Submission

Whoo hoo! I just made my first submission to a magazine. It’s a poem and I know poetry isn’t my strong point. I also know this particular magazine (SageWoman) receives tons of poetry and with limited space it’s very unlikely mine will be chosen. It’s not the best and I’d just written it and it didn’t have enough emotion in it for me to feel satisfied. But then again I’m a perfectionist at times (example: starting a sentence with ‘but’ is not proper grammar but I don’t care. I’m not that bad at least.).

I’m just happy I did it. Honestly, I don’t have a lot of confidence if the paragraph above is anything to go by. If I didn’t like the feel of writing so much I probably wouldn’t have stuck with it through the years. I just love writing, it’s my very breath but it can be hard when you often worry that your aren’t good enough. I know I am a good, possibly an excellent, writer of sorts but knowing in your head and heart aren’t always enough. When I was younger I didn’t have a lot of encouragement. I wasn’t discouraged either unless you count one incident.

I will keep working on this and if I have my way, which I will, I will make tons more magazine submissions in my free time between blogging and serious writing. Who knows, the first time something of my gets accepted my be the kick in the pants I need.