Regardless of whether you are an emerging writer or a writer who holds name recognition, gaining regional or national publication credits can be difficult and frustrating. Researching journals that suit your writing and then submitting your work to those journals can be a full-time job, but at least a job that holds some hope. Collecting rejection notices is also a full-time job, though not nearly as hopeful. Even well established authors have to endure numerous and potentially nasty rejections before their short stories or poems find a home in literary magazines.
Author Jack Driscoll says it took a lot of time and even more patience to get started in the world of literary journal publication. About rejection letters, he says, “There was a time when I ‘papered’ my office door with them, and one day as I breezed past, they all came down in a swoop, at which point I thought, ‘Okay,’ and wadded them up and burned them outside on the lawn. Before they fell, there must have been a hundred of them, Scotch-taped together like patchwork wallpaper.”
Pete Fromm, who has published five short story collections, two novels, a memoir, and over 150 stories in journals says, “Starting out, only a few stories making the rounds, and the majority of those pretty reject worthy, I piled up close to 200 rejections before Tim Gautreaux at Louisiana Literature finally took the plunge with a story called ‘Trash Fish.’ ” Since that publication, he averages around ten rejections per acceptance. “So,” says Fromm, “while publishing about 150 stories sounds cool, the 1,500 rejections sounds less so.”
If this is the case for seasoned writers, what are students who are just beginning to take their writing seriously to do? For COS student writers, the answer is simple: submit to the Bear Trail Journal, a journal that publishes only the writings of COS students.
The idea to start up a literary journal on campus sprouted from the unfortunate fact that COS students currently have limited campus-supported print publications in which to showcase their developing skills as writers. The Bear Trail Journal will fill several needs by creating publishing opportunities for students as well as increase opportunities for learning, campus involvement, and student and campus achievement. The hope is that the journal will encourage and empower students to take their writing seriously. As COS English instructor Eve Thompson says, “We all know the power of applause for the athlete and the performing artist…publication is a writer’s standing ovation.” In addition to building confidence, publication credits can assist students in gaining admission to undergraduate and graduate degree programs as well as obtaining employment.
The first publication of the Bear Trail Journal will take place in May 2008. Submission guidelines and deadlines will be posted around campus as well as on the Bear Trail Journal Web site which will be linked to the Writing Lab page. COS students are encouraged to submit short fiction or novel excerpts, poems, and essays of up to 1200 words, as well as photographs and other forms of print art.
COS is fortunate to not only be located in a region of incredible and varied natural beauty, but to also be located within a community that supports the arts. As a student of COS, it is important that you take advantage of what this community and this campus have to offer. Submit your work, and begin building your resume as an artist. If you are a faculty or staff member, encourage students to believe in their creative talent and to submit to the Bear Trail Journal. |
| |
Any writer starting out should take almost any opportunity available to get published. Not bathroom walls, perhaps, but most definitely the college literary magazines. And even there the competition is intense to the point of being ridiculous. If you've got a magazine like the Bear Trail Journal that specializes in student work, you've already cleared several of the hurdles. Write your story, rewrite it, again and again, until it's something you'd actually be proud to see in print, then let them see it. Having your story, your name, in the Bear Trail Journal could very well be your first step, like Louisiana Literature was for me.
—Author Pete Fromm,
four-time winner of the
Pacific Northwest
Bookseller’s Award
|
