Yeah, I hate those when dealing with anything. It's almost like, "Thank you for you patronizing XYZ... now go fuck yourself."
Yeah, same here. You'll be talking away together, they'll ask about your achievements lately - you tell them honestly (without being a dick) and they just go dead quiet. Happened on a date for me (one which had been going perfectly well beforehand), which was probably the most awkward experience of my life. I'm not sure why. I love hearing about other people's journeys, the ups and downs, etc. I think deep at heart, I'm that one person from Mean Girls who just wants to bake rainbows and smiles tbh. I JUST WANT EVERYONE TO BE HAPPY AND FEEL LOVED, OKAY?!! Honestly though. It's been like this since high school. You learn to talk about the highlights sparingly, and even then, people sometimes get hurt - which I don't even really mind, I kinda get it - it's just that I would dearly love to share the journey with these people. It's such a bummer when you feel yourself having to hide stuff from them.
Every magazine is like: "We encourage writers of all identities to submit . . ." I would hope so. You don't deserve a ribbon because you don't (illegally?) discriminate. It's like a bakery with a big sign that reads: "HOMOSEXUALS ALLOWED HERE."
Good question. Almost certainly, but that would be nearly impossible to prove. Like, you would need a lawyer to argue that story A was better than story B and only denied publication because the author was homosexual. Unless you have a smoking gun... like a company email that says "only publish straight authors" or something. Or an egregious pattern of "hiring" that could only be explained by discrimination. Jeez, can you imagine a court of law litigating the publishable quality of a story? I bet it's been attempted.
The institutions and journals that put this kind of notice in bold print always make me wonder who called them racist on Twitter.
I feel like I'm in school again, uploading word docs before 11:59 pm. I know I'm just going to get rejection slips, but my brain gives me the "you're being productive" juice.
Submitted to BFS Horizons back in March. At least this a little higher than a form rejection. Thank you for giving me the opportunity to read 'Bright House, Black Dog'. Unfortunately, I will not be taking it forward for publication. While I thought you had a really interesting concept, I feel that the ending is a little too abrupt, too much is left unexplained. [Insert snarky comment about literary types like Ligotti being able to write unexplained experimental stories and still being published and well received...]
How is that sort of length acceptable? People suggest sending stories in a tiered fashion so that one can accept from the best valued magazine first, but this is why it's difficult. How can one be expected to wait almost a year just to get rejected? Imagine if every publication was like this. You'd have an almost year long wait between every submission provided they all had "no simultaneous submissions" rule.
@Teladan -- The Iowa Review does take simultaneous submissions. And the 203 days it took to get that rejection is far from the longest amount of time I've waited at many other places. Just how long it takes is a pretty good indication of how flooded with submissions these places get. I used to be more impatient, but it's important to keep in mind that acceptances always seem to take longer than rejections. And when it is worth the wait it sure is worth the wait. I think the trick is to always be writing new stories to bring into the submission mix. I've been in the position where I felt like I had a submission out everywhere (in the places I want to publish), and I had new stories that I put off submitting for a while. There is no rush in publishing. That's just the way it is.
Form rejection from my favourite potential agent. *cries* This is one I have a lot of Feelings about so I ended up writing a whole journal post about it over on that forum, but I thought I should mention it here too, for the sake of completeness.
143-day form rejection from Crazyhorse. Q: Has anyone else ever received a rejection on a submission that never appears to change status on submittable? I’ve had it happen a few times. Not that it means anything, but just curious.
