THE SUBMISSION TRAIL

I enjoyed Joey Franklin’s “Submit That Manuscript! Why Sending Out Your Work Is So Important” (July/August 2017). The essay highlights many valid reasons to submit a manuscript and should be helpful to anyone feeling indecisive about the next deadline. I would add yet one more reason to keep submitting, even if you’re not sure if the piece is ready: Once you submit, your work has found a temporary home, and you can, without a guilty conscience, turn your attention elsewhere for a while— perhaps toward another project you are eager to work on, or devoting time to researching literary agents or sending out

queries, or even taking an overdue vacation. I’ve opted for self-publishing, but before I did, submitting my work kept things moving forward. Through this curious and often frustrating process, I learned invaluable lessons that allowed me to grow as a writer, including the discipline of editing, patience, and the art of polishing my work at least “one more time.” We writers don’t know where the submission trail will lead, yet no matter where it begins or ends, everything we encounter along the way becomes part of the words, the pages, and the books that we will one day write.

Brookings, South Dakota