Best Rejection

Ah, the life of a writer. I'm elated and dejected all in the same time. To paraphrase Walt Whitman, "Do I contradict myself? Very well, then I contradict myself. No I don't."

My novella was declined, but with a note that it would be reconsidered if it were longer. They liked the story and concept. Essentially, I have a rewrite request and an invitation to resubmit.

Guess what I'll be doing for the foreseeable future?

When It's Good To Wait

Typically, I have two writing projects going on at any given time: a novel and a short story.  For some reason, I tend to finish the shorts quicker than novels.

Here's the great thing about the pace of these 1500-5000 word stories.  I lose track of how many I've written, and where they are submitted.  (That's why God created spreadsheets after all.)

There is a magazine.  Never mind which one.  This particular magazine has a reputation for quick rejections.  A 10 - 30 minute rejection is not unheard of.  A couple of weeks I received a 20 minute rejection.  Yeah, it hurt.  I wept for minutes.  (Except that I didn't.)  So what do you do?  You keep writing and keep submitting.  (See Heinlein's Rules.)

A few days ago I finished a story that seemed to fit again, so I sent it off.  When I did, I discovered in my submission spreadsheet that I had another rejection I'd forgotten from the same magazine.  It lasted a week with them, and had a very nice rejection letter, complete with the specific reason it didn't make the cut.  (For those that don't write, a form rejection is the norm for most markets.)

I say all that to say this.  I checked to see where some of my current submissions were, and saw that this latest story has lasted four days with them.  That doesn't mean it will be accepted for sure, but it feels like I'm getting closer to the mark with this particular magazine.

Sometimes, it's good to wait.