I just happened to check my spam box and guess what I found? A submission rejection dated June 10th! Nothing good comes from the spam folder, I guess.
I've submitted this story, "The Conduit," to three places so far, and garnered three rejections : the Anspaugh Science Fiction Contest, Clarion Writers' Workshop, and recently, Strange Horizons. Not a particularly good record, but at least I'm getting the story out there instead of sitting on it.
Am I supposed to get the message that this story stinks? There are plenty of examples of authors who stacked up multiple rejections before selling a particular story. Then the story won an award, once it got into print where folks could read it. Sure, that's probably not me, but I still don't have to give up. Maybe just not quit my day job.
Yet.
Visit with Utopiana: an academic, a mom, eco-feminist, UU pagan, wandering soul, former homeschooler, and writer.
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3 comments:
The spam folder is an ugly place.
Hang in there. It will only make you try harder.
And lots of people believe in you.
For myself, I find comfort knowing that Joseph Campbell applied to seventy colleges and universities in an unsuccessful job hunt (and suffered through a year in a position he disliked) before receiving the offer from Sarah Lawrence for the position he would hold for thirty-eight years.
Of course, I commend you for getting in the race, while I feel like I'm stuck in the stalls.
Let's keep pressing on!
Strange Horizons is a tough market to penetrate. Clarion is a pretty big deal, too, and not by definition a market. I'm not familiar with the Anspaugh contest, but any contest tends to be tough and subjective.
Keep sending the story out there. Aim high, but even an exceptional story might not find a place in a magazine where an author's name might do more for sales. Keep putting it out there; someone will find a place for it.
Until then, keep writing and submitting. That's what writers do.
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