Rejections & submissions update
January 14, 2009
A little flurry in the new year.
Just because I needed cheering up, In Skin rejected by Interzone (damn, really thought it had a chance there), and Shadows rejected by Pedestal.
Onwards!
New round of submissions:
- In Skin submitted to Fantasy & Science Fiction magazine
- Another Today submitted to MsLexia
- Shadows submitted to Tin House
Hope springs eternal, and all that. Funny how it all starts to stack up – when I got the form reject from Pedestal, I had no idea what story I had there! Thank goodness for the Duotrope/spreadsheet combo, so easily tracked down. I’m surprised how quickly things are starting to build up – admittedly with only one sale to show for it, but I’ve made 30 submissions since I started the programme back in September, which is averaging over 1 every 2 weeks, but it’s not all new inventory – I’ve only got a stock of 9 stories on the rounds at the moment. I’ve got plans to up the ante on that . . .
. . . but I must finish this article on Feminism and SF tonight, and I must get caught up on my Think Sideways course work.
Best get cracking, then!
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January 15, 2009 at 1:35 am
Wow, congratulations on the circulation! I need to get back into that habit. I haven’t finished anything in such a long time…
January 15, 2009 at 9:02 am
thanks! I’ve been using Jay Lake’s story-a-week method (well, a story every other week) and hitting the back catalogue. I’m hoping against hope that something must surely stick somewhere, but again, I’m following alongside Jay and going for the top markets first . . . . I live in hope eternal . . . .
January 15, 2009 at 3:31 pm
That’s a good strategy. I started trying to work with my back catalog last year and after six months getting only one story ready to go I had a major insight into what was missing in my writing that gets me all those “didn’t grab me” rejections. I realized I’m not pushing a character to face his or her limits, whatever those are. In a literary story, it might be a very small thing, a very internal limit, but it’s still there. But I don’t do that. I write people who are very good at sliding away from facing things. I suspect there’s a way to write those and still make it interesting, but I haven’t figured it out yet.
So, back to the drawing board. Hopefully lots of new stories this year.
January 15, 2009 at 4:50 pm
yeah, that’s a tricky problem, tho the fact that they want to/can slide away from problems makes them interesting . . . .
I’m glad I’m going through the back catalogue – there’s some rough diamonds in there I can polish up, but there’s some real stinkers in there too. I’m finding it so useful just offloading the ones that so totally suck . . . . it’s a good clearance/closure exercise, and has really helped with refocussing on my ’sweet spot’ areas.
I’ll keep my fingers crossed we both generate a stack of new stories this year!