[saktii]

My question is this: How do i go about getting a short story published? Alot of magazines don't seem to want to take unsolicited material, so does this mean I need to get an agent?
Should I just spend the money to self-publish (there are place here in SF that do that, but it seems kind of like a scam)?
This is what I really should be doing with my life, but I don't have any idea how to get my stuff out there.

[raisingirl]

Oh no, GB. No, no, no, no, no! *rubs eyes*

Are they really the best thing that have happened to you? Because if you're saying this, I have to accept it as truth! And I don't want to do that! I loved your book (and am eagerly awaiting the second one, oh yes I am), I totally think you are such an inspiration as a writer, and to know that the morning pages worked for you... well, that's something, all right.

I tried the morning pages and Artist's Way dealie several years ago. I really tried them. But I COULD NOT STAND IT! It did nothing for me. It made me feel like a retard. I did it with a group of friends and I can't believe any of them even want to talk to me anymore, I bitched about the Artist's Way so much back then. I tried to keep an open mind, blah blah blah, what we're most resistant to is sometimes what we most need, so on and so forth, but I couldn't stand the morning pages, the artist dates, etc. It was something for the life of me I could not get into.

Oh, and you know what? I was actually writing for an audience back then. Sure, it was a small audience, I'm sure, but I was still writing and had to deal with deadlines and rewriting and all of that. Somehow I was able to do that without the aid of the MPs.

I still love you, GB, but I don't love the morning pages -- or Julia Cameron for that matter.

Different strokes for this folk, I guess.

I think what I hated about it so much was that for the longest time all I had been hearing was OHHHH THE ARTIST'S WAY IS SO WONDERFUL!!!!!! BIBLE BIBLE BIBLE!!!!!!!! MUST READ AND ABSORB ALL ITS GOODNESS!!!!!!!!! so maybe I had some lofty high expectations for it and when it just didn't jive with me (I don't know, I don't like her writing style, for one -- or her philosophy, for that matter), I ended up throwing it clear across the living room repeatedly until the spine cracked.

But I do vehemently agree with making the time and space for writing (or any pursuit, really, that one wants to improve at), making it a daily (or almost daily) commitment, to be done even when you're NOT IN THE MOOD. Especially when you're NOT IN THE MOOD. I think it helps to clear out the cobwebs.

Anyway, those are my thoughts and I'm sticking to them. I'm glad we're resurrecting this thread. I'm off to write now, in longhand.