A woman of my word, I value honesty and follow-through.
In last month’s blog, “submitting nonfiction,” was the sneak peek I left for this post—a detail I stand by even though things have shifted. After all, with time, ideas can morph and become something not originally intended. I am, however, grateful that the sneak peek remains truthful nonetheless, keeping me an honest woman.
During May, I did indeed submit a piece of nonfiction to some publications for consideration. That said, the process was quite underwhelming—a copy and paste here, an upload there—nothing to really blog home about.
I don’t mean to trivialize the mental and emotional burden of finding the courage to put your words out into the world for someone to possibly (and probably) reject, pooh-pooh, or secretly laugh off. It takes guts to bear a part of yourself, sharing something you’ve created with strangers.
The piece I jettisoned off into the realm of Submittable describes a moment shared with my oldest friend. A mundane moment that regularly comes to mind, so I figured if it resonates with me, it may with others. I wrote “The Church Stoop” last year while participating in a writer’s retreat. Our prompt focused on the concept of place—what we feel, smell, sense, experience, and so on—essentially, what makes a place a place. It took me almost nine months to muster the nerve to submit the piece, and I don’t regret finally sharing it—even if it only garners rejections. Full send or nothing.
On a larger scale, but in an adjacent vein akin to submitting nonfiction to a group of readers, three friends and I have banded together as business partners to submit our own creation to the community.
On May 2, we launched our website and social media accounts (Facebook & Instagram) to announce our venture of hosting the Storykeepers Ball, an evening for book lovers of all genres to get dressed up, gather, and celebrate stories with like-minded individuals. How’s that for submitting nonfiction?
We business partners are book club attendees, avid readers, Dragon Gauntlet veterans, and proponents of fun—our Venn diagrams have quite a bit of overlap. With our shared bookish experiences, we decided to throw this budget-friendly, literary-themed soiree for every page-turner, dream-weaver, and story-seeker wishing to partake in camaraderie, dancing, and book-centric activities. And we’re really excited about this.
Taking our noses out of our books, our real-life experiences and connections—personal and professional—have made planning this party a no-brainer. We just need to add the creativity and hard work. Full send or nothing, right?
The hardest, or rather the scariest part, is waiting to see how everything plays out. Will enough people buy tickets when they go on sale this fall? Will enough people agree that this is a good, fun idea? Good enough to want to get dressed up, shop on-site book-themed vendors, partake in delicious appetizers and special cocktails, and dance the evening away? All of these are unknowns at the moment.
Since the beginning of the month, the Storykeepers Ball has experienced an engaged audience, a growing list of followers, and interested parties within the community—we’ve even received some vendor applications!—all of which encourage our team to embrace an optimistic POV for this endeavor.
It’s nerve-wracking to put your creation, your baby, a piece of you out into the sometimes not-so-friendly world, but it’s worth trying when you’re heart says “full send,” whether it be about sharing nonfiction with literary editors or telling your community and beyond about a wicked awesome event coming to Northern Michigan on May 2, 2026 (the Storykeepers Ball). If you don’t share it—put it out there—you’ll never know what could’ve happened.
“The Church Stoop” is about a particular place at a specific moment in time shared with a friend; the Storykeepers Ball is also about sharing an experience with friends in a beautiful setting—it’s just a moment that hasn’t happened yet, but you can bet that this honest woman will be writing about that experience too. Full send.
Coming up next:
June — Celebrating a local centennial
2 responses to “Organized Rambling: Full send or nothing”
[…] month, I am not a woman of my word. Instead of sharing about a local centennial, I’m sharing how I walk to […]
[…] may recall that earlier this year, I shared information about the Storykeepers Ball, a literary-focused, entry-level soiree for all readers and lovers of stories, and with each […]