Well, I promised you I was going to Caithy Weaver this post, and show you each step of sending out the next two queries.
Here’s how that went:
Monday, May 18th
6:29 – With only 30 minutes of writing time left before I have to grab breakfast and take out the trash, I decide to go to the simple route. Just find the simplest template for a short story cover letter, and create the simplest draft possible for each of the publishers. I’ll be changing them 20 times, anyway.
6:36 – Basic templates created!
6:39 – Start reading the submission details for OneStory.
- Should be in PDF/TXT forms
- Will be submitted through a submission manager
- The ‘about’ page has multiple editors listed, but Writer’s Market says the main contact is Maribeth Batcha
- Wait… Submission MANAGER?
- Could it be possible that I never needed to write a cover letter for this publisher, and my own nerves have been holding me back?
- Decide not to get into that.
6:48 – Start reading the guidelines for the Saranac Review.
- Contact: Aimee Baker, Executive Editor.
- Will be sent through the Submittable submission manager- OH COME ON.
- Now I’m angry at myself.
- I mean… seriously? SERIOUSLY?
- Wait, the submissions page states that if you’re submitting simultaneously, that you’ll need to make mention of that on your cover letter.
- Thank God, I still have something to get irrationally worried about.
- And they have a form you can fill out if you need to withdraw a submission? That’s actually quite handy!
6:55 – Make some extremely light changes to the super-basic templates I had before.
6:56 – Is… Is that it? It can’t be that easy. I have to be doing something wrong.
6:57 – … right?
7:04 – After clearing out my emails, I realized the garbage truck has just started it’s loop around the neighborhood and I’ve got to MOVE.
8:00-9:00 – Getting ready to leave the house and commuting.
9:00-11:00 – Meetings
11:00 – 1:00 – Paperwork
1:00 – 3:00 – Setting up softboxes, set pieces, and a green screens at a small commercial studio.
3:05 – Decide to make a sandwich when I get home. So I can get right into things. Just knock it out.
3:06 – Realize I have no bread.
3:07 – 4:00 – Go food shopping.
4:00 – 5:00 – Arriving at home, showering, and disinfecting EVERYTHING, because Ohio is close to reaching 1,700 COVID deaths, and while it’s not NYC, I’m not going to die because I forgot to wipe something with a damp, disposable cloth.
5:00 – Dinner
6:05 – Resolve myself to get back into the office and send out the first query come hell or high water.
6:16 – Call and face-time multiple friends and family.
7:20 – Goof around on YouTube.
8:10 – Decide this is some kind of weird executive dysfunction, and promise myself to at least head into the office after the next video.
8:45pmish – Pass out in my office futon while watching a meditation video designed to increase productivity .
Tuesday, May 19th
5:25 – Wake up on a less-than-comfy futon, deeply disappointed in myself.
5:26 – Vow to try and get at least get one submission out today. That should be easy, right? And the day hasn’t really started until I leave for my first client. Technically.
5:40 – Do a quick review of yesterday’s cover letters, and decide they’re not horrible, and it’s worth a shot to send them out.
5:41 – Wait, is the format of the manuscript ready to go?
5:42 – Of course it is. I sent it off to The Rag earlier. I would have checked.
5:42 – Actually, I just sent The Rag an email asking if this was the right email to send the manuscript TO, and I didn’t actually format it.
5:43 – Realize that both Saranac and OneStory have working submission links and have updated their web pages in the last two years, so I’m likely dealing with more proficient publishers this time around. Decide I had better check the formatting.
6:56 – Watch enough YouTube videos to realize my formatting is atrocious, and needs to be fixed.
6:06 – 7:05 – Do a huge amount of frantic editing. Because no, I didn’t upgrade to the type of word processing software that lets me do that automatically, and buying software packages at 7:00 in the morning is not going to speed this process up.
7:07 – Go to Saranac’s Submittable page, so I can submit my work.
7:08 – Wait, I already have a Submittable account?
7:09 – … oh yeah! Yeah, I have no idea what that password is.
7:10 – Reset Password.
7:12 – Finally get to the Submittable form.
7:14 – Fill out the Submittable form details, and confirm that I’m willing to pay the $3.00 submission fee.
7:15 – Hit the Submit button.
7:16 – Excited at the feeling of finally getting the story in the mail, try to convince myself to skip breakfast – the only food I’m going to get for the next 9 hours – in lieu of getting the OneStory submission sent out RIGHT NOW.
7:20 – Realize my dedication to the craft has limits.
8:00-9:00 – Getting ready to leave the house and commuting.
9:00-11:00 – Meetings
11:00 – 1:00 – Paperwork
1:00 – 3:00 – Setting up camera, set pieces, and new backdrops at a small commercial studio.
3:00 – 4:00 – Yard work and sanitizing.
4:00 – A quick snack
4:30 – 6:30 – An intense editing session with one of my more amazing individual clients.
6:30 – Quick calls to family and friends confirming that I’m not dead.
7:15 – Dinner
7:45 – Promising myself that I’ll submit OneStory tomorrow.
So I kept my promise to myself. Mostly.
But I promised you, the readers, confirmation that I had submitted to OneStory as well. So I’ll talk about that in my next installment.