How Do You Know What's Your Best?

One of the things that I notice about this time of year is the number of people who are applying to one thing or another and are second, third, sometimes fourth or fifth-guessing themselves as they assemble their application packets. Are third or first person narratives better? Send two stories or a chunk of novel? One chapter or two?

Well, the best advice is first off not to get too hot under the collar about it. Pick recent stuff that you think shows you doing something well. Pick a story that you wouldn't mind reading aloud, and read it through that way at least once before you finish revising it.

Play by the rules. Send your app in by the deadline, and include everything that they asked for. Don't make extra work for the admins. Proof it before you send it, and then have a friend send it again.

My Clarion app stories were "Tick-tock Girl" and "Candles". One had already been accepted by CyberAge Adventures, the other still has yet to be published. The latter was described as "rather odd" by Octavia Butler - I can still hear her wonderful warble of a voice in my head as she tried to figure out what she wanted to say about it. Both stories had been written within the six month period before the application.

Currently I've applied for another workshop, and this time sent "Sugar", which will appear in an upcoming fantasy sampler and "Events at Fort Plentitude" (still unpublished). Again, recently written, and what's more, stories that I like, that I think show me doing several things well. Are they my best - could I even rank all my stuff with any sort of definity? Probably not, but they're representative.

And now they're off in the mail, and I don't need to worry about it any more. ;)