My response? “There is nothing new under the sun.” Many of us too often find ourselves sitting in front of a blank screen striving to be original, and nothing’s happening. We can’t get past the little voice in our head telling us we’re boring and our words are worn out. We waste a lot of time worrying about saying something no one has ever said before.

How’s that working for ya?

My view: Just write. Write what’s in your heart and stop trying to be the next Shakespeare.

Let’s take a look at another stupid thing some authors tend to believe: Our words are sacred, inspired, and beyond any need for editing.

I just published my fifth book. I have a non-fiction memoir, a marriage book, a “how-to” book about publishing, a devotional, and a new kid’s book on the market. I’ve also blogged for three years, and I’ve pumped out well over 200,000 words.

Guess what? The red ink of my many editors is now a welcome sight. In fact, most of what I write goes through several grueling edits before it gets published anywhere.

• My wife reads everything. (She keeps me honest.)
• A retired English teacher proofs everything. (She keeps my grammar great.)
• And then a professional editor kicks my butt. (He makes it readable!)

Painful at times? Absolutely.

Worth it? No doubt about it.

I was depressed for days when the edits from my first book with Tyndale Publishers were sent to me. I complained to my agent, “My editor doesn’t get me! Who does this guy think he is to trample on my words? He’s trying to change my voice, and I won’t stand for it!”

I felt abused, rejected, and frankly, embarrassed. Writing a book is a lot like having a baby, and nobody wants to be told his baby is ugly. Nobody

Mustering as much compassion as she possibly could, my agent simply said, “Get over it! Welcome to the world of every published author.”

Trust me, I know what it’s like to labor over a word, a sentence, a paragraph, or a chapter for hours. I understand how you feel when you’ve engaged your soul in communicating a thought or poured out your heart on something you deeply care about only to have some editor say, “That doesn’t work for me.”

It sucks. Every fiber in your being wants to defend yourself. I know. But I also know that the end result is always better. Ruthless editing forces me to be a better writer. Red ink makes me a better me.

Someone once said, “What’s black and blue and red all over?”

“A manuscript in the hands of a good editor.”

Yup. Absolutely.

But it’s okay. It’s good. You’ll be fine. I promise.

So let me strongly suggest two things:

1. Embrace the process. In fact, invite your editor to do his or her job brutally.

2. Get over yourself. Your words may be inspired, but they are not perfect. Repeat after me, “Editing is my friend. Editing is my friend . . .”

Okay, time to hit Send and get this off to my editor!

BIO: Kurt W. Bubna published his first book, Epic Grace: Chronicles of a Recovering Idiot, with Tyndale in 2013. He has also published Mr. & Mrs.: How to Thrive in Perfectly Imperfect Marriage, The Rookie’s Guide to Getting Published and a devotional. Bubna is an active blogger, itinerate speaker, regular radio and television personality, and the Sr. Pastor of Eastpoint Church, a large non-denominational congregation in Spokane Valley, Washington. He and his wife, Laura, have been married for nearly forty years and have four grown children and seven grandchildren.

Ghost Pines Publishing is an independent press dedicated to dark fantasy fiction. They go to great length to define the term dark fantasy, but the main points appear to be that dark fantasy is sympathetic to the monsters themselves and it is set in a contemporary setting with fantasy elements. So think of series like The Dresden Files, rather than Harry Potter or Supernatural.

They are primarily interested in publishing series, but they are open to stand alone novels, short stories, and novellas. Ghost Pines only publishes 1-2 full length titles per year. They have been around since 2011 and since then have managed to place most of the books they have published on one Amazon bestseller list or another. They are primarily focused on digital publishing.

They were initially funded by a group of venture capitalists, which strikes me as odd, because that is rare in the publishing industry. I also am uncomfortable with the fact that their website does not focus on selling books.

However, they have been around for a while and appear to be legitimate. Watchdog sites do not have much information available on them.

Please query first before submitting. All submissions are made via email. They offer advances for most books and pay all manuscript authors royalties. Authors of short stories and novellas are paid a lump sum, that is equal to about 10 dollars per manuscript page. They are particularly interested in short stories that fall into a sub genre of dark fantasy, such as romance or young adult.

To learn more please visit their submission guidelines.

The list is in no particular order.

1. Arsenic Lobster

A weird and wonderful poetry journal that is associated with a small press. They publish print issues once a year and electronic issues thrice a year. They have a slow response time and a low acceptance rate. Most of the rejections they send out are personal. They have been around for a decade. To learn more or to submit visit their website here.

2. Abyss & Apex

This Hugo nominated speculative fiction magazine does a great job publishing fiction and poetry. They are an electronic publisher. They publish four issues a year and they pay their writers. To learn, more visit their website here.

3. Blackbird

One of the oldest and most respected electronic literary journals around. Learn more at their website here.

4. Up The Staircase

Up The Staircase is a respected electronic poetry journal that has reopened to submissions. Our full review is here. To learn, more visit their website here.

5. Kestrel
Kestral is a great, established, and artistic literary magazine. They even have a fairly reasonable acceptance rate of over 5%. The one hitch with submitting to them is that they do not accept electronic submissions. You have to mail your work to them the old fashioned way. They generally respond to submissions with three months, which is a fair response time. To learn more visit their website here.

6. Sugared Water

A respected print journal that is open to prose and poetry of all genres. To learn more visit their website here.

Mid-American Review publishes both new and established writers who author moving, wonder-inspiring work made with meticulous craft. They publish all styles of fiction, nonfiction, and poetry from traditional to experimental, and prefer work that employs language as an artistic medium, painting layers of meaning that broaden beyond the author’s own mind.

Mid-American Review is published twice a year, in the spring and fall. Each issue contains work from about 25 authors. They accept submissions year-round, and submitting writers can expect a response within about one to five months.

Poets may submit up to six poems of any length. Fiction writers may submit one story, up to 6,000 words, or up to five shorts. Authors may query before submitting longer manuscripts or novel excerpts. Nonfiction writers may submit one essay, up to 6,000 words. Writers in all genres may submit translations accompanied by original text. Authors wishing to submit translations should follow the standard submissions guidelines for that genre. Mid-American Review also welcomes chapbook collections of 10 to 15 translated poems accompanied by an introduction, 300 to 500 words. Additionally, authors may query about submitting book reviews, generally around 400 words.

Mid-American Review accepts submissions online and by post, but not via email. They accept simultaneous submissions, but ask that authors immediately withdraw work published elsewhere. They do not accept previously published work.

If you’d like to learn more or submit to Mid-American Review, please visit their website at http://casit.bgsu.edu/midamericanreview/submit/