The 30-Year Story
![th[2]](https://lidabushloper.files.wordpress.com/2016/01/th2.jpg)
A looong time ago, I wrote a 4500-word light romance. Back then, there were a number of print magazines that published that sort of thing. I worked on it till it was polished, then sent it off. It didn’t sell. I sent it to another market. Same result. Over the next few years, every time I spotted a new market, I sent it off. It never sold, but I kept it in inventory. As time went by, print markets for popular fiction began to shrink. So did the story length they wanted. Each time, I revised the story downward. It went from 4500 words to 3500, to 3000, then to 2500 and finally to 2000. The last time out, it had shrunk to 1500 words.
Meanwhile, I was having some success with other things: confessions, short articles and essays, a newspaper column for a year and a half, and dozens of academic papers written in the course of earning two master’s degrees. The years continued to pile up, accompanied by another development, the rise of the Internet, followed by a proliferation of online magazines. Now there are hundreds, if not thousands of markets for every possible form of fiction.
In an online forum, I saw a call for submissions for an online newsletter, Seeds, edited by Michael Bracken. The story fit the market, but he only wanted 1000 words. Really? From 4500 words down to 1000? Yes. In this case, the market rules. Cutting the story still further was hard, but not all that hard. I sent it off.
Michael responded that he had gotten such a response from his call for submissions that he was now overstocked. Would he mind if he held on to the story till the next year. (He only prints fiction in the January issues of the newsletter.) Sure, what the heck. Truth to tell, I thought this was an editor’s version of “I’ll call you.”
But, no, Michael was a straight shooter, and last October, he sent an email asking if the story was still available. What I really thought was, “Oh, yeah, after 30 years, ya think?” But I try to be professional in these communications, so I affirmed that it was.
Michael has published the story, called “All Creatures Great and Small” and you can read it here. (You’ll have to scroll down.)
There’s no need for me to spell out the first takeaway from this account. All writers, or at least the ones that get published already know it. But it reinforced some other principles I believe in. First, connections matter. I would never have seen the call for submissions if I weren’t a part of the online writing community. Second, any story can always be made better. In the case of this story, cutting, cutting and more cutting saved it from oblivion.
But there is another thing to ponder. Why did I hang on to that story? I had discarded many others over the years that I knew were dead ends. I’ll talk about that in a future post.
If you are a writer, especially of genre fiction, and you aren’t familiar with Michael Bracken, I urge you to follow his blog and/or read this interview with him. He is smart, hard-working, generous to fellow writers.
Lida Bushloper 
Very nice little story! I’m glad you sold (?) it and got it published. But I can’t help but wonder what the other 3500 words told. 🙂 Jackie
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What happened with the other 3500 words is that by cutting them I think I learned to be a better writer! Thanks for commenting.
Lida
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Lida, I am in awe of your inspiration, dedication, and patience. Thank you for encouraging all of us to follow our dreams!
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As always, Kathie, I find strength in your support.
Lida
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What a sweet, nicely written love story, Lida. I enjoyed it! And I admire your persistence!
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Thanks, Lida, I just hope it gives encouragement to others.
Lida
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Lida, This is a good story – well worth the 30 year wait!I’m impresssed by how much you included in 1000 words – both explicitly and implicitly.Well done!Carolyn
Date: Mon, 18 Jan 2016 22:14:17 +0000 To: carolyn_swadron@hotmail.com
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Thanks so much, both for taking the time to read and to comment. Lida
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Lida,
I’m so glad you sold your story! Like you, I believe in pit bull persistence. I don’t give up on any of my work either–though I often do rewrite. Best of luck!
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All of our paths to publication are so interesting. Thanks for reading and commenting.
Lida
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That’s a great story. Thirty years must be the record. Congratulations.
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Thanks for commenting. It’s perhaps not the record one would hope to earn, but maybe someone can top it.
Lida
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Pingback: Why This Story? | Lida Bushloper
Linda, that story was worth the wait. I don’t know what it looked like at 4500 words, but right now it cuts to the chase — and the heart.
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I couldn’t agree more that cutting it down to the core was the key to success and a better story. Thanks for the comment.
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Pingback: It’s Not Always That Hard | Lida Bushloper
This popped up as a recommendation from WordPress. I’m so glad it did. I really enjoyed reading this – even though you wrote it over two years ago. (And the original romance even longer ago than that LOL)
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Thanks, Trisha. It was a hoot to write, but also I got a lot of mileage out of it. Not only was it a blog post, but I had it published in the newsletter of my local Sisters in Crime chapter and it was re-blogged a couple of times. Glad you got referred to it. Lida
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