This month’s story is a bit meta. It’s about a writer and the experience of trying to achieve publication. In Winter, 1965 by Frederic Tuten we follow a young writer as he tries to discover whether a short story he has had accepted by a literary magazine is in fact going to be published. As always, you will benefit most from this masterclass if you read the story yourself: writers/winter1965
There is much in this story for a writer or aspiring writer to identify with. Note how right at the beginning the narrator explains that the fact he is about to be published has changed him in the eyes of the people he associates with, many of whom are also striving to be published. And when he is plunged into despair by the non-appearance of his story he feels demeaned in the estimation of his fellow workers, one of whom mentions that he himself is about to have a poem published.