Wednesday 22 April 2015

Bea Patient

Good news today. I have a short story published in the current edition of The People’s Friend (25 April 2015 edition should you wish to buy it!). I have already had several non-fiction articles and fillers published in this magazine. But “Take a Break” is the first of my fictional tales which they have printed.

It’s been a long time coming. The story was written and submitted in November 2013. Yes, 2013! I waited, as you do, but there was no news. I thought perhaps it had vanished into a black hole of my imagining behind a filing cabinet. After 3 months I chased. ‘No problem,’ they said, ‘your story is still here and is going through our reading process.’ I waited some more.

Finally, 6 months after submission, they said YES. They paid me. Then I waited, eagerly anticipating publication day. And waited. And waited.

Until today! And I love what they have done with it: a few subtle edits, a fun strap line and a beautiful illustration by the talented Jim Dewar. My ‘light hearted story’ is ready for the world to read.

So from submission to sale: 6 months.
From sale to publication: 11 months.
17 months in total. It pays to be patient.

7 comments:

  1. Congratulations!

    If you factor in that sometimes it can take quite a while from the initial idea to the finished submission ready story, we have to be very patient indeed.

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  2. It is a virtue, and we are of course virtuous people, Patsy ;-)

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  3. Well done, Beatrice, it's a lovely story. And you're so right about needing patience... submission to publication is a long old process :)

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  4. Thank you, Emma. Glad you liked the story. I'm still learning the need for patience.

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  5. Well done for being so patient Bea. I've almost given up on them, but you have given me hope, so thanks for that 😊

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  6. Don't give up, Suzy. I'm a great believer in perseverance paying off in the end.

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