a-frozen-pit-of-ice

[a-frozen-pit-of-ice]

Ugh. All of my classes are so expensive. Engineering paper? Engineering paper??? Fucking. What's wrong with all of the lined paper I have?

McGraw Hill has no right charging that much money for a subscription, too.

[a-frozen-pit-of-ice]

I don't use this blog for anything. I might as well try it out for my anxiety rambles.

I'm so anxious, man, and it sucks.

Right. Lay it out.

First.

Finances. I'm anxious about starting to pay rent. I know I have enough money, but having that much money come out of my account each much stresses me out. What if I end up falling short at some point?

What am I doing about it?

I'm keeping an Excel spreadsheet to track my budget and expenses. This will help me when I do taxes, too. Bonus. Also, I'm going to try to get a job this summer. That'll help supplement my income. I'm going to talk to my financial aid advisor about if my summer classes will be paid for. I'm going to ask my career counselor about internships, but if there aren't any near home, I'll just work part-time somewhere. Like Wendy's. I know I have enough financial aid for rent.

Second.

School. I'm worried about not being able to keep up with my classes. Last semester, things turned out to be really difficult with Calculus III. I'm worried that my classes this semester will be similar since they're all math-based.

What am I doing about it?

Okay, so, my classes won't be pure math. They'll be understanding how to apply that math. I've already gone ahead and allocated time to study. That time can be for both studying and homework. I can also go to office hours and find tutoring if necessary. Thermodynamics—I've already seen half of the class. It shouldn't be too difficult. No need to fret. No need to worry. Technically, then, it's like having twelve hours. I can do this. I've done it for three years now. Let's lay out the facts. I just got to this college. I just moved away from home. I just started paying rent on my own.

Third.

The physical symptoms of my anxiety. My chest hurts. I get physical spikes of pain. I get nauseous. My head and chest feel like exploding.

I don't know what I can do about this one. I can take hydroxyzine, but I'm not sure if it's working. I need to schedule a visit with my college's mental health program.

Fourth.

I feel anxious in my own home.

What can I do about it?

Relax. I pay rent. It's my home. It's my place to chill. I can contribute by cleaning, buying toilet paper and soap and other amenities, and by generally being a good roommate. I'm not going to get kicked out. I'm fine. I'm chill. This is my home. This is my home.

That's enough for today.

[a-frozen-pit-of-ice]

10 Magazines to Send Your Short Fiction for Publication

I thought this list might be helpful for all my followers that write short fiction. I pulled these 10 magazines from Duotrope’s list of “top 100 most approachable fiction markets.” Approachable means they have a relatively high acceptance rate compared to other markets in Duotrope’s database.

I’m not endorsing these magazines and I haven’t vetted them, I’m just sharing for anyone who can’t or doesn’t want to pay the $5/month subscription fee for Duotrope. You’ll need to look them up and find out what kind of stuff they want, deadlines, word count limits, etc.

Adelaide Literary Magazine

Scarlet Leaf Review

50-Word Stories

Potato Soup Journal

Fiction on the Web

Writers Resist

X-R-A-Y Literary Magazine

Theme of Absence

Utopia Science Fiction Magazine

Bewildering Stories

Spelk

Remember that if you submit to one of these and they reject you it doesn’t mean anything. Even though they are considered “approachable” a lot of things can skew those statistics, and there are lots of reasons editors reject stories (not enough space, not their style, too similar to another story in the same issue) that has nothing to do with the quality of your writing. Whatever you do don’t stop writing.

Hope this helps xoxo

[a-frozen-pit-of-ice]

[a-frozen-pit-of-ice]

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