Tuesday, April 08, 2008

Sending Your Babies Out into the World

By Darvell Hunt

When I left home for college, I felt like my life changed forever. I was nervous and homesick that first quarter away from home, but it was good to get away and open my life up to many great possibilities. Had I stayed home because I was afraid to leave, I would have missed out on considerable growth and many chances for success.

I just made two novel submissions last week. I should have submitted them earlier, as they really had been ready for a while, but I let them sit around too long. I thought maybe they weren’t ready to leave. Finally, though, I kicked them out of the house to see if they could make it on their own. Now that they are “out in the world,” they have the chance to make something of themselves.

It’s hard to send your writing out, but at the same time it gives you a wonderful feeling of anticipation. Submitting can also actually reduce anxiety, because you’ve done the best you can do and now you just have to boot your stories from their comfortable nest and see if they can succeed on their own merits.

Submitting makes me happy. It’s when my babies flunk out of college and come back with negative comments about their experiences that bums me out. Hopefully instead of that, they will end up getting married to a publisher and send money back home to their aging father, who helped them to become what they are today, by working with them and giving them direction for so many years.

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