Milestone: I Sold My First story.

Last week I sold the first story I’ve ever sold. It’s part of the “Take a Breath,” short story collection by Xpress publishing.

This collection is built around themes of claustrophobia. My contribution “The Man in the Hat,” fits the mould quite well. Without giving away the plot too heavily, it’s about a teenager who is grounded in his bedroom on a Saturday night and decides to test the waters on a new Tik Tok trend that involves over the counter drugs.

I’ve started sending out more short stories in the past four months or so, because if nothing else, it’s a good way to ensure I’m pushing forward with new writing rather than stagnating in the editing process of older work.

To get a hit on this story in particular is quite exciting because the structure of this one represents a bit of a shift in writing style for me. This one relies on rhythm a lot more than most of my work. Its internal tension builds from the length of sentences more than any particularly shocking imagery or action.

While I’m always playing around with new techniques and ideas when I come across them, this emerging style isn’t a conscious thing—which I hope means it’s a bit more organic. I hope it comes across that way, because I’ve been finding myself slipping into this voice more and more lately.

If these are the early stages of me, “finding my voice,” as a writer this story represents a much bigger milestone than getting some cash for my words, but that part remains to be seen.

There are two rounds of edits and a few other back room logistics to work through before this one is out, so I’m probably about six months away from holding this one in my hands, but from what I’ve seen from Xpress publishing’s previous work, I’m confident it will turn out looking pretty clean. Here is the hardcover for their previous short story collection:

This box alone speaks to the passion and care you get from Indie publishers which are nowhere to be seen from the larger houses.

A short word on Milestones

I started The Sudden Walk with an overarching premise of “the road to getting published."

This goal is still live because that was referring to getting an novel published rather than short stories.

As it stands I’ve still got to tick off the following:

Get an agent to represent that novel

Sell it to a publisher

Get it published

Sell enough copies to do it again.

But I just thought this was a good opportunity to touch on a quick point.

When you’re tackling a lofty pursuit like this, obviously you need the big targets to chase long term. The pathway to success is simply too murky to get anywhere without them. But if you don’t find the little victories along the way to log your progress, it feels like you’re standing still for long stretches. That’s the reason most people quit.

I’m conscious that the only thing differentiating me from the hundreds of “This is How You Get Published” mouthpieces out there is the retrospective element that they rely on. Those folks are leaning on their authority as “a person who has done it already.” Which is valuable, I won’t deny that. But there are things you miss when you’re relying on memory.

You forget the little steps that make the dream feel a little bit more real.

Looking back all of the following will jump out as milestones:

When I got a story published in an E-book.

When I got published in a University journal.

Obviously when I look back, this will be added to that list, but the detail I’ll likely miss is the observation I made in the first section of this article. It’s not getting paid for the writing that is valuable, it’s the validation of this particular story. The acceptance of this story is a signal that my suspicions about this new style of writing were correct, it’s success is a sign that I should keep going in that direction.

That’s the bit I will have forgotten six months down the line. But I suspect it’s the detail that will offer me much longer lasting effects than any small cash payment ever will.

Anyway, if you go on the main page for the Sudden Walk and click on the Road to Publication tab, I’ll be adding Milestone to a few of the article titles to mark out some of the watershed moments which might be invisible to the layman or an outsider trying to break into this world.