I don't have Duotrope. I was edging on pressing the buttons...but thought I best wait the two weeks til our money rolls in. 7 or 8 places...that's more like it. I sent one just now, worked all day, steaming on a revised/revised/revised/revised and polished it up special, and sent one copy to a 'big rag' and one copy to a guy in a shed in Wales. Maybe I shouldn't have posted him, maybe frightening for him? He did ask for submissions. Big rag will reject in 6 months. At least they reply, some don't even reply..
Unfortunately so far all I have are rejections for fiction I mean. I’ve had non-fiction published. I haven’t been sending my fiction out for long, though, and I did have a short story shortlisted for an anthology. Hopefully one day soon someone will publish some of my fiction...
@matwoolf -- That advice sounds like it comes from someone who has not published in any of those so-called big places. And I'm not even sure Ploughshares and The Paris Review are in the same category. I think that's bad advice to tell any writer not to aim high if they've got some talent and a good story. It happens. And though timing and a little luck don't hurt, good work gets noticed. It just takes a lot of time and rejection along the way, but it's not a miracle. It's just a good story.
I've seen many articles like that. We could all probably write articles like that. But I think you have what it takes and I don't want you to discard places just because they seem harder. They're all hard. But people do get published all the time. Maybe that slush reader just didn't know a good story when she saw it. That happens all the time too.
S’ok, I sent one to MR, to Sun, an other one to 9, what was it called?And applied for the writer grant. And... did my ‘job thing’ and all the stories were bad, and I felt bad about that - even sent one bad one up because I felt so mean.
You little softie, Mathew. I know you guys already know it, but I want to tell EVERY writer to start at the top and work down, unless they have a really good reason to go in lower (and not thinking they're good enough is not a good reason). The other way makes no sense.
Good for you! And wishing you luck with it all. It's normal to think something is bad immediately after hitting the submit button. But I have't read something by you that was bad yet.
Haven't been here in a while, hope you guys are all well, sounds like you going great guns on the submitting. Fingers crossed for you all.
I just cut/pasted the original draft. I never checked if the magazine corrected my 'Dad/dad' errors...'Tool' by me. https://drysailorboy.wordpress.com/2019/02/16/tool/
It's tough out there for sure. And I think we all wonder if we are good enough to publish (or publish again). The thing about not being good enough is we all have the opportunity to get better, write more stories. What you have written might be great, but what you can write is always better. That's the way I try to look at it. Sure, I get more rejections than a lot of other writers, but I read and write like crazy. And I'm all in. I'm not sure how much you're submitting, but the attempts on your end are what's going to pay off. One hundred rejections is nothing. Two hundred rejections is nothing. Because publishing makes it all worth it. You have to try really hard and put your work out there, but I think it's also important to be writing new stuff all the time. Not everything we write is going to be good enough for publication, but if you write enough and can stand the avalanche of rejections that come with submitting, it will happen. Happens all the time.
Thanks right now I’d settle for just one story published so I know I’m at least good enough to be published. Right now I’m just really lacking confidence. This evening I had a story rejected for the 5th time. I was told it reached the final round of consideration, which I guess I ought to be encouraged by but I just feel like I’ll never be good enough.
So, here's an interesting development. I don't know how many of you are obsessed with duotrope, but I totally am. I check stats and recent responses as well as keeping an eye on when places open and close to submissions. It's a regular part of my routine. I sort of have to do things this way to feel like I'm on top of things. Anyway, I've got some still pending from the fall. Some of those places are closed to submissions now so I imagine responses are coming. Then again some places just take forever. One of the places I submitted last fall seems to have cleared the deck. There is only one pending response on duotrope and it's mine. I doubled checked and my submission is still in-progress. I don't want to get my hopes up, but it's kind of cool and this has never happened to me. I checked out this publication on social media and read updates far enough back to where they announced they had received hundreds of submissions this past season. It looks as though everything has been rejected except for the serious maybes. I really want this one. Almost good enough is pretty much the story of my life so I am prepared for this to go either way. I'm so close I can taste this one. But how much longer do they really need to decide on my story? I've been in limbo three or four times the amount they usually take to respond. I know. I know. Good things come to those who wait, and blah, blah, blah. I'm tempted to reach out and check in with this place, but every time I've checked on a submission it's usually followed by a quick rejection. So, I guess the waiting game continues...
I've never had an avatar. I'm not even sure I know where to find one or add one. But now I want to jump on the chicken bandwagon. Where do I get a chicken? I want to be included.
I just googled and found a picture in the public domain. Pixabay.com is a good site for copyright-free images, though I don't know if they have any chickens. Then you just hover over your name in the toolbar (top right) and click Avatar to upload it. Easy!
