#0067 Create–Revise–Submit–Embrace; Or, Speedrun To Rejection!

Let's kick off 2025 with some low-pressure practice

Let’s do a condensed version of the create–revise–submit–reject cycle to kick off 2025! During these four weeks of January, we’re going to practice. Why? To get comfier with all the aspects that go into stacking up those rejections. (Alternatively: why not?)

Akin to video game speedruns,¹ do your best to race against the clock while having fun. If ever you’re grinding your molars rather than your virtual throttle, take a breath (#0046) or set aside the task in front of you. It’ll still be there on your return.

(Source: jyl4032 on flickr).

First an overview of the month, then we dive into Week 1: Create, which is This Week. (Don’t freak out [#0042].)

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Week 1: Create

The categories are poetry, fiction, nonfiction, and art. Keep written work short and focus on a few rather than a lot with the art.

Week 2: Revise

After the new something (or somethings? no pressure [#0043]) has rested overnight or perhaps for several days, it is time to revise to make the art/prose/poetry better.

Week 3: Submit

I’ll supply a list of typically fast-responding places to submit the new work. It will be up to you to figure out which ones to try and how to get each submission in.

Week 4: Embrace the Rejection!

By the end of January, we shall reflect on our practice cycle, take our new and/or refined knowledge and skills into the rest of the year, and bask in our rejections that show we try.

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🎵Right Here, Right Now🎵

Week 1: January 5th–11th, 2025

Start by writing or making something new (or several if you so choose). Though it’s tempting, resist the urge to dip into your work in progress or a not yet completed concept in your drafts. Clean slate time.

We will be submitting to places with Speed Racer² response times, so most have word limits and only allow one prose (fiction or creative nonfiction) submission. Though there are some opportunities to submit more than one poem or art piece, this is not the time to create an abecedarian portfolio.

This week, maybe today — why wait?! —

• Compose a free-verse poem (or several): though some places want sonnets or other formal forms, most places prefer to receive the nonmetered, nonrhyming form, aka free verse

• Conjure a flash fiction story: there’s not a universal word count for flash fiction but try not to go above 1,500 words

• Draft a short creative nonfiction piece: again, no agreed-on word count; for flash creative nonfiction, try not to go above 1,000 words

• Take a new photograph, with a camera or phone, or

• Make a new piece of art: drawing, comic, collage, painting, graphic design, fiber art, sculpture, metalwork, mixed media, etc., etc.

You might have the instinct to only, say, write a poem because you’re a poet. That’s okay, that’s fine. But if the mood/muse strikes you, don’t stay in your lane. This month is a low-pressure practice, so try something new. Get a little weird. Maybe create several new thingamajigs.

Need some inspiration? Here are some prompt ideas (#0038 and #0039).

Two of the places on the (soon-to-come) submit list have prompts (see below). And one place specifically wants speculative fiction and art.

A prompt

For all kinds of creative work (art and written), a literary magazine is looking for submissions on the theme Letters to Venus with this prompt:

Venus is the Roman goddess of love, beauty, victory, and prosperity (among many others.) Based on these themes, what would Venus say to you today? From her perspective, what would your life seem like to her? Weave this theme like a tapestry and delve into the depths of your soul. We love your words, art, and photography and we want to see them glow.

B prompt

For flash and micro fiction submissions only, here are the visual prompts:

Image for flash fiction submission.

Image for micro fiction submission

Now you know! It’s time to…

Go Go Go »»»

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If you have any questions, please leave a comment (especially since others might have the very same Q but are too shy to ask), and I’ll answer.

Also, it’d be great to hear what you’re doing for this practice. Doodling a cat face? Envisioning lyrical phrases for a doggo? Dreaming up the twist for a story? Examining life via a single day? Please share in the comments. But not the whole actual thing, since places often won’t allow previously published material.

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Next time: Revise.

1. I’ve watched YouTube videos of gamers doing speedruns because my kiddo got curious, and, well, as a mom I wanted to know what it was all about.

2. Does anybody remember the Speed Racer animated tv show? (Not the reboot to try to sell the live-action movie.) Turns out it has manga roots!