The First Line

THE FIRST LINE is a quarterly magazine which was founded on the premise of providing authors with an opening.  It is based on the theory that the stories are all beginning in the same manner yet take off in innumerable directions.  I first came across the publication a few years ago when I was browsing through WRITER'S MARKET.  I loved the idea because it was one which I used when teaching writing to my third grade students.  I decided to give it a try and failed.  Not that I didn't come up with a good story.  I thought it was great and eventually THE SILVER SWAN found a home in CRIME SCENE NEW JERSEY which is an anthology featuring mystery stories that are all set in the Garden State.  The editors of THE FIRST LINE just did not share my opinion which is of course their prerogative and par for the course when writing. 

The rejection stung, but I nevertheless vowed to keep submitting until I finally hit one.  I've yet to reach my goal.  However, I did come close once and appreciated the editor's comment on my rejection letter that I'd just missed.  I couldn't help but wonder what it was that kept it out of that issue.  However, I've read that you should just accept your rejection and move on.  In the end, my quest netted quite a few short stories.  Four of which found homes in other publications.  Moral?  What one editor doesn't like, another might.  Do not give up.

Eventually, I became frustrated and stopped submitting.  Recently, I decided to take up my quest.  I tell my children not to quit and it's always best to try and set a good example.  So I made a pitch for the summer issue.  The opener wasn't a great one.  "Rachel's first trip to England didn't go as planned."  However, I am a closet traveler and someday hope to backpack around Europe, even if I'm a senior citizen when I do it.  So, I gave it a shot and came up with HOLMES AND HANDCUFFS which is a mystery set in my favorite spot, Spring Lake.  It also introduces my newest protagonist, Rainer Donovan, who is a journalist who yearns to escape her life to explore the great unknown.  Instead, Rainer finds herself investigating Rachel's apparent suicide when she turns up dead on the night before her trip to England.  THE FIRST LINE didn't like it and I have since set it off to another magazine called ONE STORY which is a publication that features simply one short story.  I've yet to hear, but am hopeful.

 I've learned that there are three things that are essential to writing.  The first is of course a thick skin.  You have to shake off the rejection and move on.  The second is patience.  You submit a story and then you wait, wait, and wait some more.  The third is hope.  As with everything in life, you have to have hope.  Without that, what do you have?