chicago

I was recently reading a from Immediate Fiction, the wonderful book from Jerry Cleaver at the The Writer’s Loft in Chicago.

Cleaver pointed out the Ernest Hemingway quote that titles this post. Cleaver follows up by adding his own bit of wisdom … paraphrased: “If Hemingway thought all first drafts were shit, why should yours be any different?”

It’s a damn good question. I know in my own writing I often fall victim to the evil self-editor and I hate it. I talk to other writers — ones like me with aspirations and less-than-resounding successes — and they admit to the same. And reading about other authors, ones that have been published, also say they can’t always escape the pitfall.

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I submitted this story to a magazine called The First Line. It didn’t sell and I didn’t think it would. I tackled the piece because the premise of the magazine intrigues me — each story in the publication begins with the same first line — and I wanted to submit something.

I didn’t think it would sell because I’m still learning my craft and I knew what I ended up with wouldn’t be very good. Frankly, I hadn’t written much fiction since I was in college. Read for yourself.

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