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Posts from the ‘One Year – One Hundred Rejections’ Category

Oct 31

Update – End of October 2015

Not much new on the submission front. A couple more rejections came in the last few days, including my first from The New Yorker. Very cool, right? Here is the update:

Submissions: 7
Acceptances: 1
Rejections: 32

I am falling behind on my submissions. I haven’t had a chance to send out the stories that have come back. Need to do that soon. But it looks like I may hit 40 by Dec. 31, so that’s pretty good. I knew I wouldn’t come anywhere close to 100 for the year, but hey, if you’re going to aim – aim high.

One thing that concerns me is that we are moving into the holidays. It’s that time of year when everyone is taking vacation. Things tend to slow down and some publications aren’t open to submissions.

Also, me the writer needs to take a much deserved break too. Always take time to be with your loved ones. You never know how many times you’ll get to be with them.

So now is the time of hibernation for a lot of publications. Ah well, I can be patient and wait for the right place for my stories. I’m not a big fan of sending stories to anyone or anywhere. I am much more precise with my submissions. I don’t want to waste the editors time or my own sending something inappropriate. Why would that work? I don’t think it would and I think it makes you look unprofessional. (Just my opinion, of course.)

Good luck to those that are dong NaNoWrimo this year. I thought about it, but since I am already deep into my novella, I decided not to go for it. I’d rather finish the projects I’m already working on. They should have a month dedicated to that. A month for finishing stories, but I guess you’re supposed to do that every month anyways.

Anyway, happy writing!

Oct 15

Update Mid-October 2015 – Finish by Christmas

Here we are in fall and I’m still hanging in there with my challenge.

Tally so far...

Tally so far…

Submissions: 9
Acceptances: 1
Rejections: 30

I wish I could predict when I will get answers, but they are all over the place. Still, I’m happy to be hearing back something. The worst is no answer at all. Then you are just left in limbo. Some of these stories will eventually make their way back out into the world, but for now they are resting. Some of these rejections came in the past few days and I haven’t had a chance to find a new place for them.

Finished my edits and signed my contract for the new forthcoming story. SO EXCITING! As soon as I know a pub date and have an image, I’ll talk about it more.

You know, I wonder if I will ever get cynical about this process. I’m not sitting around obsessing over it, but it does give me a thrill. One more story out in the world for people to enjoy.

Other things:

I signed up for a quick 2 day class for fantasy writing. My first with the genre, but I figured it would be a good experience.

Almost forgot to write this post. I am firmly in the grip of the new Mistborn novel Shadow of Self. I have about 60 more pages to go.

Make-up guru give themselves challenges all the time to “hit pan” or “finish five by – ” on their products. I want to finish this novella by Christmas. That’s about two months. If I do that, I’ll be very happy.

That’s all for now. See you in the next post!

Sep 30

End of September 2015 – Accepted!

Well I guess when you put it out into the world, you get your answers.

Submissions: 11
Acceptances: 1
Rejections: 24

Yep, I got an acceptance e-mail for one of my stories. I’m excited to see it in print. I’m not going to give any details now, because I think it is better to announce when people have a book or a link to follow. Me announcing it doesn’t have any benefit to you or me. So, stay tuned. As soon as there is something to see, I’ll let you know.

As for my other challenge – I failed. No sugar coating this one. I didn’t get thirty stories. Honestly, I am surprised I got into the double digits. Thirteen was the grand total.

Hey, it’s thirteen more than I had at the beginning of the month.

Since my goal at the beginning of the year was to write two stories a month, for a grand total of twenty-four for the year, I think I have made good progress so far. I have one more quarter of the year to go. To tally up where I am at with my goals from the beginning of the year:
I have 14 stories completed this year (I wrote one earlier in the year.)
I started my novella.
I have 24 out of 100 rejections.
I haven’t designed a cover or tried to self-pub anything.

That last goal is something I’ve been thinking about over the last few weeks. I had forgotten all about it, but now that I have quite a few stories, my thinking wheels are turning. Not going to say too much, because I haven’t thought it all the way through. I’m still putting a plan together.

Over all, I think I’ve done pretty well for the three fourths of the year. I sometimes forget that for the first four and a half months of it, I had thesis class and finished out my degree. So really, I didn’t get things moving until June or so. And in June, I went on vacation and generally took a brain break to recharge.

That means July, August, and September were months that I was really trying. Where I was really focused.

Not too bad.

My plan for this last quarter is very simple. Finish, finish, finish. Submit, submit, submit. Repeat.

As Jack Sparrow said, “Simple. Easy to remember.”

Sep 15

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Mid-September Post 2015 – Two Challenges at Once!

Mid month update. No movement on the submissions, except I got one more rejection. But, I mailed that story right back out. The rest are still out in the world.

Here’s the numbers:

Submissions: 12
Acceptances: 0
Rejections: 24

We are ¾ of the way through the year, so I’m sure I’m not going to get a hundred rejections, but maybe I’ll get 30 or 40? Maybe I’ll get at least one acceptance? One can hope.

My other challenge isn’t going so well. I started off strong, but somewhere around September 10, I fell behind. It’s not the writing that is hard, it’s the finishing. So now I have two unfinished stories sitting on my table. I opted to keep working on those rather than start yet another story. I suppose I could write a couple of flash fiction under five hundred words to catch up, but I’d rather finish up these two stories that I really like and am excited about.

What ever happens I’m glad I decided to do this. Like I said in my earlier post, there is something satisfying about finishing. I will have more new stories and I can submit those and add them to my challenge.

I would count the stories, but it’s getting late. I think I have 12(?) right now. Not too bad. Just a few stories behind.

A nice break from the longer story. In October, I will get back to that.

Aug 30

End of August 2015 – Up for the Challenge

Here we are at the end of August. The second half of the month moved much slower for me. Only two rejections came in, but I have noticed that right at the end of the month/beginning of the new month is when a lot of notices are sent out. So over the next day or so I may hear from a few places.

Numbers for August:

Submissions: 12
Acceptances: 0
Rejections: 23

I think in the last post I counted a story twice, because all my stories are out now, but I still have one less than before. (That’s what I think happened, but not sure.) I don’t really do simultaneous submissions. Most places that I want don’t allow them, and I have gotten out of the habit. Maybe if I wrote more literary fiction I could do that, but the speculative fiction is a no go.

Anyway, there are now twelve unique stories out, and I hope to increase this over the next month. Last year, I did a personal challenge called “Short Story September.” I wanted to write a new story every week. This year, I’m going to bump it up and write one every day. No idea whether this is a good idea or not, but I want to break out of my rut. I’ve been working on this novella, but it is still unfinished. I like finishing stuff. Gives me a sense of accomplishment.

Some days I may write a flash piece and then get back to the novella. Others may be spent just on the new story. Either way, I’m going to get a few more new things written. Even if I don’t get thirty stories done, I’ll take any new stuff. My major clean out showed me a few pieces that I didn’t finish or only wrote the first paragraph. Because of school, I had to put a few things on the back burner and so now is the time to finish them up, while I’m still excited by them and want to finish.

The “wanting to finish” is important. Sometimes if the story is boring me, I know I shouldn’t continue to write it. If the enthusiasm is gone, I’m gone (and probably the reader too). Focus on the other that are still alive for me. Those are the ones I have to bring into the world.

Still continuing on my reading streak, although I only read four books this month (Gotta get back on track!). Next few months will have a flurry of new books coming out: Rushdie, Franzen, Galbraith (Rowling), Sanderson, Due, my favorite author Atwood, and quite a few more. So, lots to look forward to in the fall.

Aug 16

Mid-August Update 2015

Quite a first half for August. One of the places I sent a story to (way back in the winter) closed up shop and I didn’t notice until this month. Bummer, but the story went back out into the world and will hopefully find a good home. Also during the last update I mentioned there were a few that didn’t open until August 1. So three of those submissions happened quickly.

Ok. Let’s get to the numbers so far for this month.

Submission: 13
Acceptances: 0
Rejections: 21

August has been both busy and dull. I find moments of incredible productivity when I’m writing and submitting. Then, I can spend two or three days tinkering through a scene and putting down only a few hundred words. It has been a while since I wrote anything close to a long piece, so I both remember this feeling and marvel a the newness of it. I’m hoping to finish by the end of the month.

I also did a summer clean out of my workspace. After school was done, I noticed that my apartment was drowning in paper, revision notes, and info. I had to organize. A couple of good hours a day sorting, tossing, and filing paper work worked wonders for my sanity. I don’t feel so disorganized anymore. (I even have a dining room table again!)

So I am feeling quite productive this month and hope to continue this pattern.

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