Getting my creative writing published

My creative writing has always been one of my favorite outlets, and something I bonded over with two fellow girls in school, who then became (and still are) my best friends.

During my university years, I was still writing, but not sending in for competitions or publication anymore.

In recent years, I have decided to pick this hobby up again – as a creative outlet, as a counterweight to the engineering, as a compliment to my music.

I joined an online writing group during the pandemic, which was then terminated as we all got busier post-pandemic again. A bit later, I decided to send submissions to competitions again. And, recently, I decided to try and submit to literary magazines. I’m proud to say that I got the first acceptance in a literary magazine (Katern) in March.

Certainly, there is a lot of rejection in creative writing. Having dealt with a fair amount of rejections in academia, as we all have, I feel that I am better equipped to deal with negative feedback or rejections in my creative writing. I take the advice, work on improving, try new things, and try again – and know that nothing really depends on this, as my writing is purely a hobby, but something I do quite enjoy.

Do you have creative outlets?