I received my 3rd short story rejection of 2009 today (but who's counting) and I'm glad. No, I haven't got a temperature. It was one of those personal rejections that inspires you to have another look at the story and to do some editing. I am very happy with the results, the story is stronger and I've added it to my list of favourites*. I've also cheated. My plan was to write a story to sub to Necrotic Tissue this week. I've completed the first draft of something that has a lot of "but why does that happen?" questions that I don't know all the answers to yet, so I sent my revised story to them instead just in case the 'something' ends up in the recycle bin. I also changed the name of it from the hideous 'Dwelling' (what possessed me) to 'The Scratch of an Old Record'.
*Being on the list of favourites is not a good thing - they never sell. In my opinion the best stories I wrote last year were Frog & the Mail Order Bride, Treading the Regolith, Manipulating Paper Birds, Chasing Alice out of Wonderland and Strange Tooth, and they're all stuck in submission land. While some I was a little unsure of sold right away. Moral of the day: Don't trust you're own judgement.
Viewing: Blog Posts Tagged with: Libsyn, Most Recent at Top [Help]
Results 1 - 4 of 4
By: Catherine J Gardner,
on 1/7/2009
Blog: The Poisoned Apple (Login to Add to MyJacketFlap)
JacketFlap tags: Rejections, Manipulating Paper Birds, Treading the Regolith, Strange Tooth, Ho Hum, Add a tag
By: Catherine J Gardner,
on 6/15/2008
Blog: The Poisoned Apple (Login to Add to MyJacketFlap)
JacketFlap tags: Submissions, The Black Garden, Manipulating Paper Birds, Add a tag
Oh, I am so glad my first attempt at a story for The Black Garden anthology was rejected as it spurred me on to try again, and I really, really like my second attempt. Whether Christopher does is another matter of course.
Have just submitted Manipulating Paper Birds. Gulp!
Now, having deserved a well-earned rest, I'm off to watch the 3rd Planet of the Apes movie. I'm working my way through the box set - the 2nd movie was laughably atrocious, I hope this one fears better. Ooh, actually typing that makes me wonder if that's an omen for the above submission. Maybe it will be better luck third time around with that too... Have I ever mentioned that I'm an optimistic pessimist???
.jpg?picon=380)
By: Mark,
on 1/13/2008
Blog: Just One More Book Children's Book Podcast (Login to Add to MyJacketFlap)
JacketFlap tags: Libsyn, customer, outstanding, service, customer, Libsyn, outstanding, service, Podcast, News and Notes, Add a tag
Just as I decided to pack it in for the night and wait on Libsyn support to punch-in on Monday morning, I noticed that the support tech had logged in to the Libsyn live (Meebo) service on their support site. I nabbed the guy as quickly as I could and explained the upload problem I’ve been having. He contacted the server team and they discovered a disk error and fixed it right away.
Because Libsyn service rocks, the Jane Ray interview will be published on schedule.
Thanks, Libsyn!
Tags:customer, Libsyn, outstanding, servicecustomer, Libsyn, outstanding, service
By: Mark,
on 1/13/2008
Blog: Just One More Book Children's Book Podcast (Login to Add to MyJacketFlap)
JacketFlap tags: Libsyn, service, Notes, Libsyn, service, Notes, Add a tag
This week’s interview is with illustrator/author Jane Ray. Unfortunately, we have been unable to successfully upload the show to our file host provider, Libsyn. A ticket with their support team has been opened and the show will be published as soon as the problem is corrected — likely during business hours on Monday (Jan 21).
We apologize for the delay.
Tags:Libsyn, serviceLibsyn, service
My favorite story of last year, "Capturing Life", has been rejected about five times.
It's weird. Or bad luck. Or we don't know what we're doing. :)
Ah, "Misplaced Enthusiasm." Will anyone ever like you?
My favorite story, one that started its submissions run with a glowing "last round" rejection from Shimmer last February, still hasn't sold.
I still love you, "Aunt Tessie's Burden"...
LOL! Maybe one day they'll all appear in an anthology together. :)
My absolute favorite story, Faith & Lies, has been rejected so many times, it should just get trunked. But I can't. I love it.
I just got a rejection (number 2 for the year) of a story that I adore. I can't let it go and I can't find a home for it.
Tell me about it. I have several stories that I really love, and can I find a home for them? Maybe the feeling is mutual and they can't bear to contemplate life away from me.
Ooh, I like the title "The Scratch of an Old Record." I wanna sub something to them as well, but my horror bone seems to be broken.
One of my favorite stories (the honking long "Never Be Alone") keeps racking up rejections too. But I'll keep trying, although I'm running out of markets. Good luck for your stories!
Too Late the Rain is my all time favourite and has made the second round on market consideration twice without making the final hurdle.
I'll find it a home one day. Maybe the class of 52 Stitches 09 could put together another anthology next year of unpublished favourites...
Nice rejection is an oxymoron to everyone - but writers ;)
Good job.
"Scratch of an Old Record" is a great title.
I love the idea of an anthology of oft rejected stories. My most frequently rejected favorites are "Horse Latitudes" and "Trail of the Brujo".
Fabulous titles, all of them. I hate you, but in an admiring way.
On my livejournal blog, Gustavo Bondoni commented that perhaps our favourites keep getting rejected because we send them to the toughest markets. Sounds like a very good point.
“Don’t trust your own judgement.” Good advice! But I still maintain: you are the queen of titles.
Most of the stories I think are good sit on the shelf as well after tons of rejections (many of which assure me that they're actually good). I think just trying to find the right story for a publication for that particular issue is usually the major challenge to overcome. As for titles...yeah, I usually suck at those.
Congrats on the personal rejection...they are about as hard to come by as a "yes, we want to print your story"...they can be helpful and you're a step above the rest...enjoy...grin...