It's been a while since I did a formal update, so here goes...
Glimmertrain finally rejected the last piece I sent to them. I don't know if the long time span meant they liked it and they were having a tough time making a decision, or they just forgot.
Additionally, I received a rejection from Ploughshares on my poem - again not knowing if the slowness was caused by a tough decision or not.
So, I officially don't have any open submissions for any of my poetry or short pieces. Of course, it was only 4 stories and one poem, sent to 4 different journals, anyway. I'll probably start another round of submissions to another set of lit journals once I get done with Blink.
Speaking of Blink, I'm feeling good about the edits. I finally got over that snag and am cruising along. If you'll note the meter on the side, I've got over 70% of the chapters edited and I'm just under 83K words. Not bad. I don't think I'll be adding many more words after I get done with fixing the snag.
AWJ is also coming along nicely. I know where I'm going and what I'm going to do with it... I think. I'm hoping to finish the first draft by my birthday. =oD
On the downside, I got a couple more rejections for Caldera. I'm trying not to let them get me down. After all, from all indications, it seems like the ratio is 10 queries to 1 partial request, and 10 partial requests to one full. Or something like that. I've hit the right ratio for partials and I'm nowhere near the number of partials to make the ratio for fulls an issue yet. I'll just keep plugging along and hope someone somewhere likes my writing, because with the positive feedback I've gotten from people who've read the book, it seems like it's really coming down to a case of liking rather than craft.
I think it's Miss Snark who advises sending a hundred queries before giving up. I'm nowhere close to that, so I'm nowhere near giving up.
So, how are things going for you?
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4 comments:
Going OK; I've almost finished the second draft of my first novel. I haven't sent anything to anyone yet (apart from a few might-as-well-try-my-luck competition entries which of course got nowhere) so it's interesting to see how it's going for you. I think you're doing a great job of not letting the rejections get you down, I intend to remember your approach when it's my turn for rejections.
You can't give up....it will find a home but it may take more time :-)
You have been busy working which is great. I must get back into full swing again real soon......in fact once the laundry is finished!
I try to stay positive - or at least try and maintain the illusion of positive. ;o) Somedays I just want to throw something, though.
I won't give up. I almost did two years ago, but I'm over it now.
Keep up the good work, ladies. =oD
Right, no giving up! Easily send a hundred queries for any given project. If there are few nibbles, tweak the query before you chuck the project. Also, think of it like Borders. Right when you walk in, there are shelves of "featured" books, often with best-seller status and eye-catching covers, right? Sometimes I'll glance at one or two, sometimes I won't. Rarely are one of those the book I end up buying. What percentage of people who walk by those stacks actually take one to the register? 1 in 100? Maybe. Queries are like that, too. It's got to hit the right person at the right time. Don't let it get you down--rejection at the query stage means nothing about your book. As for the long wait on feedback on your other two... I had a rejection a couple weeks ago within 24 hours of my query. Yikes! And I have others that are still languishing out there somewhere. Who knows. Persistence is key! =)
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