Rejected!

By Weird Tales magazine for "House Hunting." My manuscript got lost in the aether the last time I e-mailed but they responded to my re-submission fairly promptly. It got the dreaded "not for me" but the editor also said it was "well-written" so that's some consolation, I guess.

Rejected Again

This time I just got the vanilla "not for us, thanks" rejection from Strange Horizons for my story "The Middle Child." I'm starting to feel the perfectly normal but no less painful writer's frustration. Does NO ONE like what I write? Am I completely DELUDING myself into thinking I can write? Am I going to have to WAIT until I'm OLD (like 35!) for me to be finally GOOD ENOUGH to be PUBLISHED? I mean SERIOUSLY. How many times am I going to have to try?

Maybe I should find a better writer's group - the one I'm in, I get maybe two critiques per story, and one is always this idiot newbie who responds with an e-mail that says, "wow, yur really good u should have it published!" Like, really? How about something actually constructive?

Rejected!

By Orson Scott Card's Intergalactic Medicine Show for "House Hunting." *Sigh*

I wish I could post more, but I seriously have no time.

Submission and Rejection

I got a form rejection from Realms of Fantasy for "House Hunting" and a rejection from Heliotrope for "Whiff." I haven't had time this school year for much creative writing, but when I saw a poster for the Comparative Literature department's journal calling for stories, I thought "what the hell" and submitted "Parasite: A Love Story." What's one more rejection for "PALS"?

Rejection, Times Two: But With a New Hope

Sorry I haven't been blogging lately - I had to work a thirty-hour week in the space of three days, so I've had precious little time to myself.

As it is, I received rejection letters for "Parasite: A Love Story" from Clarkesworld and "House Hunting" from Strange Horizons, but there were pretty thick silver linings on both of those clouds.

For the Clarkesworld rejection, I got a personalized rejection from the editor about why my story wasn't accepted - he didn't like the beginning scene with the whiskey because he felt it didn't do much other than introduce people to the world, and he also said they ran a similar aliens-take-over-humans story in their previous issue. But, on the plus side, he made the (increasingly frequent) comment that my writing "wasn't bad." So I still have potential.

The rejection from Strange Horizons was a lot better. The editor wrote back to say she really liked "House Hunting," thought it was a charming and engaging story, but her other editors weren't as charmed by it and they had to make some tough calls, so it didn't make the cut. But still - a professional editor, if she'd been alone, would have accepted "House Hunting"! She liked it! I can't wait to send it somewhere else - I have to say, I do think "House Hunting" is one of my best stories, because while I sometimes get an "eeeh" feeling when I reread some of my old ones that makes me nervous about their quality, everytime I've read "House Hunting" I still have that "hot damn, I'm good" feeling.

I'm pretty sure I'd like to send it to Realms of Fantasy. I haven't sent anything their way since "My Brother's Own Words" because their rejection (at least, I'm assuming it was a rejection) got lost in the mail. Seriously. I received my Self-Addressed Stamped Envelope and not only did it not have any returning address on it, but it was open, and empty. But I think I'll try again with "House Hunting" - the rejection from Strange Horizons really makes me believe it has serious potential.

Also, I'm reading Margo Lanahan's Black Juice, and it's really prodding me to be more faithful to my short stories, especially the first draft I'm working on, "The Middle Child" which is proceeding very stubbornly. It keeps trying to turn itself into a young romance, but I want it to be significant and artistic, y'all. Stop flirting with cute guys and start thinking about the effects of having three heads, main character!

Rejected - FINALLY!

After SEVERAL months, I finally got a rejection from On Spec for my re-write of "Whiff." They said it was better, but that one of the plot points was still a little too convenient. I don't think so, so I'll try again with a few other magazines before I think of rewriting it.

Rejected, and the Writing To-Do List

Heliotrope got back to me in less than a week to reject "Golden Opportunity" - that's either a very good or a very bad sign. There are still magazines out there - I'm thinking of trying Baen's Universe next because they have a special section for new writers and a forum that gives lots of feedback. So my writing checklist is as follows:

1. Submit "Golden Opportunity" to Baen's Universe

2. Prepare "House Hunting" for submission.

3. Rewrite "An Unmagical Age."

4. Rewrite "Joyful Noise."

5. Continue writing the first draft of "The Middle Child."

6. Keep plugging away at Reading 'The Willow King'.

"Golden Opportunity" rejected by Interzone

But I got an interesting personally written rejection. The editor encouraged me to send another story in November, but basically outlined that neither editors at Interzone wanted to accept fairy-tale retellings, for the reason that they receive so many, and so many are crap, and so many are basically the same story with different trappings, that even if they accept the really, really good ones, they're just going to get a billion more sub-par ones in the mail.

Which I can understand.

The editor said to feel free to send another story which is not (their emphasis) a fairy-tale retelling in November.

The first day I got this, I ranted, "It wasn't a fairy-tale retelling! It's an exploration of a fairy-tale trope!" And then I came to my senses. It doesn't matter what I think the story is - it matters what the editor thinks it is. If the editor identified it as a retelling, than my arguing over specifics isn't going to change anything. I'm still going to send it out somewhere else, but the question remains: where?

Rejected by Flytrap, books, and a contest

But I got some comments on this one - the editor said he loved the title of "Parasite: A Love Story" and that my writing was "nice." He also said the story wasn't the right feel for Flytrap, so now I'm all embarrassed. Let's face it, I'm just going to have to set up a fund so I can order copies of these magazines. I've read copies of most of them, but I went with my gut for Flytrap and now I'm afraid I might have made that rookie mistake of sending something completely wrong to them. I hope I didn't - I hope it just wasn't the right tone for it.

Anyway, I'm now going to have to find a new home for "Parasite: A Love Story," but that won't be so hard. I'm sorry I haven't been updating as much as I'd like -- believe me, reviews of Knocked Up, Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End, and Melusine are all forthcoming, I swear -- but my two jobs have been keeping me really busy. I have two ten-hour days this week (five hours for one job, five hours for another) and about three nights where I won't be home until midnight. Ah well, it's money, isn't it?

Also - I just received a big ol' sack (not even kidding) filled with books to review from Green Man, and I bought about five books at the discount book place by the university because the departing massage therapist at my receptionist job gave me a gift certificate, so I have about thirty-two unread novels on my shelf. To read by August (when I start reading my University novels). Shame on me. Shame, shame, shame. But at least I've got a new reading system - a one for them, one for me system. One book to review, then one fun book for me - unless it's a series.

I also entered a contest over at Dionne Galace's blog. It's in the comments section - and I had to write a 200-word fight scene between two romantically involved characters. Basically, I put a fantasy twist on it (as I do with nearly everything) - I think it's pretty good. The webmistress will pick the best three (or four) and then people vote. So if mine (AnimeJune's) gets picked, you'll all vote for me, won't you? Please please?

Rejection! And a busy story-submitting season...

Fantasy Magazine sent a standard "we'll pass" rejection e-mail for "Golden Opportunity." My back-up plan, to try to send it to Cicada, isn't set to work out because several magazines I've checked out - such as Cicada, and Challenging Destiny - have closed themselves to submissions to deal with their backlogs. I guess that makes sense - it's April, University's out, and people are filling up their empty days with writing. Ah well - that means I'll just try different magazines.

Flytrap, however, is open to submissions until May 31, so I sent them "Parasite: A Love Story," and we'll just have to wait and see how they feel about that one.

Today and tomorrow will also probably be the last day that I post for about a week - I'm set to go on tour with the UAMC on Saturday and I won't be back until the 6th of May. It also means I'm going to miss the premiere of Spider-Man 3 (nooooo!) but have no fear - I will see it the week after!