Ah, fame, it comes at a price does it not? When you are arm-in-arm with some Bollywood starling, and being fed fruit from the hands of a hundred virgins, think of us won't you. Good luck though, with the short.
Checking on some old stories and realized I missed a rejection. This is from a few months back, but a 14-day rejection from The Georgia Review.
I am slipping big time. I find it hard to balance the edit with accepted pieces while working on new ones. I'm not quite used to this juggling act. I've still got a number of things on submission and I was able to finish a new story to add to my roster. However, I might not send it anywhere until the fall when more places open to submissions. I have a certain place in mind for this story to be rejected by. How's everyone else doing with submissions?
@deadrats - I'm guessing that writing for column and writing for shorts is the real juggle. Still waiting on Granta, which I'm not holding my breath on. I have nearly finished a story that could do with a read at some point. I quite like this one so it may have some future.
@Krispee -- I'm still waiting on Granta too. I think @matwoolf might be as well. It's a long wait with them, and if they like your story it's going to be even longer. But I do really like them and would love to get in there. If you want me to read your new story over the weekend, send it to me. I'm happy to take a look. A lot more places are going to be open to submissions Sept. 1. Like all of them almost are going to reopen. Last September, I think I sent out over 30 submissions in that month alone. It does take me a lot of tries to get anywhere. If you need any help from duotrope let me know. I'll give you my password if you want to look things up, just don't touch any of the submission stuff or I'll be all messed up.
Yeah, have to be patient on Granta. I'm not quite finished with the story, still working on a kind of second draft, or a third, who can remember. If it's in a somewhat fit condition I'll let you know.
SUBMISSIONS as of 14 AUGUST 2019 ...Voyager 1 continues the great leap fast-forward mission toward Granta in Project Civilisation. Dear G, burn all of those other stories because mine is SO much better, especially when I read it to me, or on my own, or as myself. "Come around some time soon, Granta, and you will love it," is the prologue from six months ago. ...Voyager 2 The BIGGEST short story in the world competition slingshot effort toward the rock BRIDPORT, bound to win, I'm sitting at the telephones awaiting September 2029 and the radio appearance. ...New Horizons rocket passing Bangalore, though contained is SPUTNIK re-write of 116 times CRAP. .. A couple of micro-dots mentioned - still ether-ways are open to OPEN PEN, but then nobody will even read that stories [sic] when I'm published, not paid nor read, nor, or not even opened/provoking a pimple in society through a breeze motion. So that's worth SHIT. ... PRESENTLY enduring the suffering era necessary for 'craft-ways' to ferment properly; occasional reading under candle of journal stories written by the children and monsters. Cannot neven never neven even find my tribe, hanging off cliffs in wigwams, I think so, on the beaches of the Andeman Islands. I'm flying next week with a bible + parchment.
Oh thank you, Mat, I thought I was the only one who's stories were so much better when I read them...load off my mind you writing... Andeman Islands? When you've converted the locals you will have a captive audience for your stories...
umm, bit e-barrassed by my prior post actually caused by coffee. ... Sorry about P Review, a stinger :/
The Paris Review is probably my favorite to read. I absolutely love their fiction. And they do seem to embrace the weird little stories. Always a great read, and after reading an issue I am always inspired.
To email or not to email... I've got a few submissions out that have been "in-progress" for a super long time at places not known for taking a super long time. One of them is at a place I've been trying to break into for years. I've been trying to break in everywhere for years, but this is one I really, really want to publish in. My submission has been out about three times as long as they usually take. I got close once, but this submission has been out twice as long as that one took. Their guidelines say you can email them if you have not heard anything inside months. It's been longer than that. The thing is that every time I've emailed a place about a story that's been out super long, it's always resulted in a quick rejection. But I'm a little impatient to see what's going on here. I would love an update, but I don't want to push and end up with a form rejection the next day. That's happened to me at other places. So, what would you do? This is the submission I care about the most at the moment. It also is probably the best story I have out at the moment. My story has obviously made it through a few rounds and is being held. Or it could be forgotten about. But I can see on Submittable the file has been opened for a long time now. I know I should probably just wait it out. Usually, I'm fine with that, but I really want this one!!! I know I should just focus on the upcoming submission season. I'm just not sure if I should plan on sending this particular story to other places when it seems to have something one of my dream publications thinks is good enough to hold onto for so long. It's a tough one.
A 215-day form rejection from The Cincinnati Review. This is not the place I'm thinking about emailing. Just another rejection...
A 544-day personal rejection from American Short Fiction. I got a lot farther than I thought I would with this submission and the rejection letter said some cool stuff. I wasn't sure about this story, but it seems to have somethings in it that editors like. I'm going to go through it again and send this one out to some other places come fall. It's not out anywhere right now. Again, this is not the place I'm thinking of emailing. American Short Fiction is known for taking a long time to respond. My story was passed up to different editors, adding to the time. Damn. Sometimes it sucks getting close when it's followed by a rejection. Even the best rejections are still rejections.
