April A To Z Challenge Day 16- P is for Published

http://www.a-to-zchallenge.com/

Every blogger has a dream of being published. Some dream of publishing their poems, some desire to see their article in newspaper and some, like me, hope to see their stories in fine print. But seeing your name in paper, published, and your work being read by others is a thrill like none.

When I started writing fiction on my blog, I never dreamt that, one day my story will be published. But as days passed I learnt the finer nuances of fiction writing. And a major chunk of the learning process is reading. Reading books or other fiction blogs helped a lot and I still have lots to learn. In my opinion, learning and evolving is a never ending process.

Last year in the month of April, I came to know about an anthology contest where short stories of 2000 word-range were being accepted. I was excited because it was a wonderful opportunity for me to participate and get my story published. You see, by that time the dream of becoming a published writer had hit me hard.

My story in my first book Kaleidoscope

So imagine my delight when I saw my name among the short-listed writers. I couldn’t believe it because it was the first time I had sent my story for an anthology contest and I was selected in the first attempt. When I finally held my book in my hand, the feeling of immense joy and pride filled my heart. I decided that I was going to take fiction writing seriously and try to improve my skills. My first short story that was published belonged to Horror genre and it was only after the reviews started pouring in, I realized the many shortcomings in my work.

I got down to some serious hard work after that, my blog became my experimental pad, where I could publish my stories and learn from my mistakes. In the next few months that followed, I fully grasped the heartache that rejection brings along because wherever I sent my work, it was rejected. But as the saying goes ‘When the going gets tough, the tough keep writing’, I scribbled like there is no tomorrow and kept my chin up even after receiving the news of rejection.

And finally I hit pay dirt this year in the month of April. Yes, my short story is being published in another collection called ‘Life Sundae’ and the book should be out in the market in the month of June. I allowed myself to celebrate, while still writing and hoping to make the deadline for another anthology contest.

I have made a promise to myself- if I manage to get published in 2 or more books this year, then I am planning to write a full length novel.

I know it’s tough to write a novel of 50k words or more and it would mean months of hard work, dedication and sacrificing time that was meant for leisure, but there’s no gain without pain. I don’t even know if I will publish it, but I’ll never know until I try no?

So here I am crossing my fingers and hoping that I can achieve my dream of publishing a full length novel soon.