As an easily dissuaded and disheartened person, I infrequently submit work and enter writing competitions and then feel bad about myself when I’m not published or shortlisted (on reflection, it’s possible I do this just to have an excuse to sad-eat later). I don’t write very much short stuff because a) I only recently understood what an essay actually was, and b) it’s hard to hide all the flaws in short fiction. But I would like to. Competitions have deadlines and the allure of prizes and some of them have judges so exceptional that the prize becomes their reading the work at all. Journals have readers and sometimes readers might read something short and then buy that writer’s novel(s).
So, I’ve decided that in 2017 I’m going to focus on writing short and sending wide. I’ve enrolled in Writers Victoria’s Advanced Short Story Clinic, which should help me to produce and workshop five stories. And this is my in-progress accountability list – all the places I’m planning to pitch or submit to and competitions I’m going to enter. Once I do, I’ll come back and update the list with the name of the piece I’ve sent. It might even form a handy list for other people who also want to do this. In fact, it would be totally great if we had a buddy system.
= not submitted
= accepted
= rejected
= withdrawn
Publication | Piece submitted | Notes |
The Lifted Brow (non-fiction) | “In Pursuit of Nostalgia” | Accepted for TLB33 |
Mogford Hotels and Restaurants Group short story prize (Mary freaking Berry is a judge!) Closes 15 January 2017 |
Brutalised by five January deadlines – not entered | |
Nature Writing Prize Closes 27 January 2017 |
Ricketts Point shells/sanctuary** (This idea will still work for another piece!) |
Not entered |
Granta (fiction and non-fiction) Fiction open 16 January – 16 February Non-fiction 24 April – 24 May |
“The Tourists” *** | Submitted 14/2 |
Newcastle Short Story Award Closes 6 February 2017 |
“The man who lost his wife in a shell” | Entered 6/2 |
Island Submissions close 16 April 2017 |
“The Tourists” *** | Submitted 23/1 |
The Stella Kupferberg Memorial Short Story Prize (Lauren Groff judging) Closes 1 March 2017 |
“Doppelgänger” | <= 750 words Entered 21/1 |
Calibre Essay Prize Closes 15 March 2017 |
Child-onset schizophrenia | |
The Lifted Brow (fiction) Closes 14 February 2017 |
“Albatross” *** | Accepted for TLB36 |
The New Yorker | “The Tourists” | Submitted 15/1 |
The New Yorker | “Albatross” *** | Submitted 2/3 |
Kill Your Darlings | “The small air pockets of a Victoria sponge” *** | Submitted 23/1 |
ABR Eucalypt Fellowship Closes 10 March 2017 |
“Living with giants: the tradition and future of Australian eucalypts” | Submitted 20/2 |
Josephine Ulrick Literature Prize | ||
Elizabeth Jolley Short Story Prize Closes 10 April 2017 |
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Commonwealth Short Story Prize | ||
Overland | “The small air pockets of a Victoria sponge” *** | Submitted 4/2 |
Peter Carey Short Story Award Closes 31 March 2017 |
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The Big Issue (fiction edition) Closes 5 June 2017 |
“Useful tips for broken hearts” | Accepted |
Tin House Opens 1 September 2017 |
“The invisible Isla Kelly” (CANDY theme) | Submitted 3/9 |
Ploughshares Opens 1 June 2017 |
“You know how this looks” | Submitted 7/8 |
Harper’s Rolling submissions (paper only) |
||
Iowa Review Opens 1 September 2017 |
“The Tourists” | Submitted 2/9 |
Boston Review Closes 1 May 2017 |
“Albatross” Special issue – Global dystopias, Junot Diaz (!!) editing |
Submitted 8/3 |
Island | “You know how this looks” | Accepted |
Ploughshares | “The Tourists” | Submitted 18/8 |
New England Review Opens 1 September 2017 |
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Kenyon Review Opens 15 September 2017 |
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Boston Review Aura Estrada Short Story Contest – Viet Thanh Nguyen judging Deadline 1 October 2017 |
“May, who stood at the end of an iron frame” | Entered 2/9 |
Southerly | “The invisible Isla Kelly” | Submitted 20/8 |
** in progress
*** simultaneous submission
PhD | The Adelaide Destitute Asylum and women’s rights movement in South Australia c.1890 | Colloquium January 2018 |