So I did a crazy thing a day or so ago. I took this story I’d been working on and actually submitted it to a magazine for consideration. To tie in with this rash act I’ve added a new bit to the sidebar where I’m going to keep track of how many short stories I’ve sent out to publishers, how many times my submissions have been rejected and how many times they’ve been accepted. At the time of this post the count is a very tiny 1-0-0.

I have to tell you that if you’re a writer who has never tried to get any short fiction published you should really work something up that you think is of a quality worthy of submission and try it out. Pushing the send button on my submission was like suddenly being hit by a few shots of tequila. I was quite giddy and the adrenaline started pumping. Like any good adrenaline high this was a whole lot of excitement and fear all mixed up together. Now I sit and wait for the yea or nay. Luckily I don’t have to wait long because the magazine I submitted to seems to get through their submissions very quickly.

So what made me decide to take this big step? I was inspired by another writer’s blog post. I’m going to tell you all about it in a moment but first I wanted to share a non-traditional sort of useful link that I think is full of inspiration.

My first creative love is actually not writing but photography. Actually, my first creative love is probably roleplaying games but more on them another day. My interest in photography helped me discover a great website that I have followed ever since: The Boston Globe’s “The Big Picture”

First off, if you like good photos you MUST check out this site. The photography is always phenomenal. Secondly, I think that as a writer the photos of the big picture can be a source of great inspiration. For example check out this series off photos from a region of Nepal called Mustang. These photos could trigger thousands of story and character ideas.

Now let’s get back to that blog that inspired me. The blog’s name is Bloodletters and the writer is Michael Montoure. The specific post can be found here.

You should really go read it but to summarize I can simply say the Michael has given permission to any writer who needs it to be a writer. When I read that post I almost wondered if he hadn’t been writing it too me. After all, the entire idea behind Looking for a Rabbit Hole is that I don’t think I’m a writer. Not yet. Truthfully though, I guess I am. Of course I don’t just want to be a writer. I want to be a well (enough) paid professional writer. Sorry, but I’ve got bills to pay and a family.

Still, Michael’s post really spoke to me. It made me think “look – if you’re going to be a writer you’re going to need to really live it.” In this case that meant I needed to finish polishing my story and start putting it out there. It means now I need to get a another one finished so I can put it out there too. And then another. And another. And…

So I’m still not calling myself a writer in the sense of “successful professional writer”. But I’m taking Michael’s permission (and his Poetic License) to be a writer – a person who writes and needs to live and breathe writing.