I think I forgot to mention that One Shoe Highway was rejected by Clarkesworld. It was, and I subsequently sent it out again. I got a rejection from The Pedestal as well, but it was one of the nice kinds — they enjoyed the story, they only decided to pass after “careful consideration”, and please send more.
There are bunnies living in the park where I go for walks. They make me happy.
Also, One Shoe Highway was rejected by OSC’s Intergalactic Medicine Show. Next stop, Clarkesworld.
One Shoe Highway was rejected by Strange Horizons. Jed Hartman said he liked the ending but the first half of the story read like too many horror stories he’s seen. It’s a fair comment. What it means to me is that he actually read all the way to the end. And that makes me happy.
Fox Hollow was rejected by Orson Scott Card’s Intergalactic Medicine Show some time ago. I haven’t blogged about it because it’s been brought to my attention that the rejection posts may come across as too negative. I can understand why. It’s uncomfortable to hear about failure, and I seriously considered ending the rejection posts.
I’m not going to. Because I don’t see my rejections as failures. They’re just markers along a journey. My purpose with this blog is to document my journey and rejection is a big part of a writer’s life. The more I get, the less they hurt. They also follow an upward trajectory. In the beginning, all my rejections were form letters. Now, I often get personal feedback and comments suggesting my stories are being given serious consideration. They’re a sign of my constant improvement.
Besides, my boldness in publicly airing my rejections springs from my absolute confidence that any day now I’ll have an acceptance to tell you about. And when that happens, you’ll know how exactly how hard I worked for that acceptance and how much it means to me.
Prompt as always, Fantasy Magazine rejected Fox Hollow within 24 hours. According to the email I received, they’re getting 500-600 submissions per month. Shane asked me how it is that there are so many writers submitting fantasy stories but so few people reading them. Good question. I’d delve into it, but moving day approaches and I have wine glasses that need wrapping.
Got a rejection from Strange Horizons for Fox Hollow a couple of days ago. Have been too busy with the novel and packing and a cranky two year-old who’s highly sensitive to change to either blog about it or resubmit. We move out of our house in a week; things should get easier after that.
The Abduction. Rejected by Zahir. Form letter.
Two rejections + one cranky toddler = big glass of Merlot this evening.
Meriel’s Brownie was rejected by GUD Magazine. Not a surprise. It’s not really the kind of thing they publish. But there are not many places to send a story that long so I thought I’d give it a shot. Next, I’m going to post Meriel to my online critique group in the hopes that I’ll get some good suggestions on how to cut it by oh, 50 or 60%.
One Shoe Highway was rejected by Fantasy Magazine four hours after I submitted it. A form letter this time. On the bright side, it’s nice not to have to wait three months for the same news. I love online submissions.
Meriel’s Brownie was rejected this week by Orson Scott Card’s Intergalactic Medicine Show. They’re overstocked on stories of over 10,000 words. Meriel’s Brownie is 14,000 words long. It’s hard enough to sell a story when there are only a handful of magazines that publish fantasy. As an unknown writer my chances of finding a home for something that long are slim. Poor Meriel’s only got a couple of chances left before she goes into retirement.