Now that we’re settling into 2017, it’s time to re-evaluate our priorities. If you’re a writer, that means looking at what you’ve written, what you plan to write and where you want to take your writing. As a college student, I was fortunate enough to meet some really wonderful writing professors who were genuinely interested in their students. The interest was beyond that of a regular teacher. They wanted you to do well in the class, to pass it, to take from it. But, they also wanted you to hone your craft and take it somewhere—put your writing out there in the real world.

I remember my Poetry professor very well. She would bring in poetry magazines and journals on a regular basis. She’d share new and interesting poems with the students in the room and she’d also gift copies of magazines that she felt fit with the individual student’s writing style, encouraging them to submit their work to the publication. It was because of this that I wound up publishing my work so often in my early writing career. She picked out realistic publications that would probably take my work, and they did.

I also remember my Creative Non-Fiction professor very well. While her methods were different than that of my Poetry professor, she also imparted valuable information on her students. She often shared stories about her own writing successes and failures. She’s bring in letters of acceptance and letters of rejection to share with the class. Learning what to expect of the submission process was eye-opening. And, this was an accomplished writer—someone whose work I will always look up to. Here she was getting rejections, proving that it sometimes wasn’t the quality of the work being submitted, but instead the aim of the publication you’re submitting to, or the time of your submission, or sometimes the fact that they just didn’t have the space. You’d think it would have been discouraging. It wasn’t.

What I really took away from her, though, was how to manage your writing career. She would sit down once a season and send out everything she’d written during that time period. She’d send to multiple publications at one time. She’d send manuscripts to publishers, and then she’d wait. You could, of course, decide to send things out on a rolling basis (and I sometimes do).

But her lesson was really that you can’t get published and you won’t be heard without putting your work out there. It doesn’t matter if you love the writing or hate it as we’re often our own worst critics. Putting it out there does no harm. If you’re rejected, you’re no worse off than you were before. Sometimes rejection letters are in a standard form. Sometimes they’re personalized to your work. Sometimes publishers send a critical review of what you’ve written. So, at best you’re getting yourself a free editor for one of your pieces. The rejections do sting at first, but they’re commonplace in the writing world, something many people need to get used to.

So, here’s the challenge, write. Then, take that writing and send it out. There are hundreds of publications that will accept your submissions via e-mail or Submittable. Many are free. Some only require a small reading fee. There are tons of contests out there for novellas, collections and full-length novels. Again, some are free or require a small reading fee. Research publishers. Read sample issues to make sure your work fits. Follow the submission directions (100% Please do not deviate. That might mean having your work tossed out without review) and see what happens. You might be surprised to find a new and more accomplished YOU this year.