I love a person/institution who tells you to shove it before you can get three words out of your mouth!
Chin up DR, you've had slumps before in your writing and you've made it out the other side. Keep the faith.
I'm feeling the same way. The summer doldrums in publishing are here. I submitted a story to a lot of places back in February, and I've only received a couple of rejections so far. The story is one of my favorites I've written so far, so I'm waiting to see what response I get from the top-tier journals before I open it up again for revision. I look at the recent rejections on Duotrope instead of the average rejection time. All the journals I've submitted to are running slow, so I don't even have that dubious hope that my story intrigued the editors.
Grain rejection received yesterday and email today regarding story that was long listed but rejected by Northern Gravy. The editor said nice things though, including that he hadn't read anything quite like my submission before, so that's good. I think.
Novel 2 will be finished in a week, then I’ll give myself 4 weeks for edits and corrections (it’s been through multiple structural edits) and I’ll be back into the querying trenches. I have started to build a target list based on last time, hoping one of the agents who requested a full MS will again bite. so I’ll be back here more regularly with rejections I imagine!
So, here's something kind of funny. I couldn't sleep the other night so I made a bunch of new submissions, probably around a dozen. And most or all of them had those pesky $3 or $4 submission fees. Oh, well. But my bank shut off my debit card for possible fraud because all these small payments in one night seemed like suspicious activity. I had to explain that I'm a writer, sending my work out blah, blah, blah. I guess I never made so many submissions so close together in one night. Way to stay on top of things, bank. That's got to be fraud, that $3 going to the Missouri Review. LOL. I still can't believe they shut my card off because of this. Edit to add: My bank was really cool about it and turned my card back on as soon as I explained that it wasn't fraud. Still, kind of a pain to go through all that, especially after a late night of making so many submissions which is also kind of a pain.
I look at the recent rejections, too. I'm kind of addicted to looking at recent rejections on Duotrope. What's wrong with me? Anyway, I have five rejections that have turned red and one that's purple now. I know the summer is always slow. I just did some revision on a few pieces and sent them out to some of the places that are open, but I know many of the places I regularly submit to won't open until fall. I have three submissions still pending from last fall. Summer is always slow. Or maybe it's just publishing is always slow, but the summer is super slow.
8-day form rejection from SmokeLong Quarterly. So quick again! I hope that's not a reflection of the work..
Over here they often ring you up, but never for so small an amount. At least they are being vigilant on your behalf, even if it's a pain to deal with.
A 1 day form rejection from the UFO anthology. No invitation to submit another piece this year, sadly, but as I said, they're quick.
2 rejections yesterday on my manuscript. I have 2 that im querying (a fantasy and a contemporary). So far... In the past 22 days, the fantasy one has been getting all the rejections. The contemporary one has gotten 0 responses (rejection or request). I guess no response is good? (Trying to go back to being optimistic but its hard...)
I'm a fellow addict! Sometimes I do it ten times a day. I've been trying the Pomodoro Method (25 minutes of uninterrupted writing and 5 minutes of break time before writing again). Checking Duotrope is so fast, and it fits in those breaks. Most of the journals that have had my work for a while aren't sending out any rejections at all right now. Totally silent. Are your journals sending out rejections for work submitted after yours? That's when I get my hopes up, even though I know I shouldn't.
I've been on this thread for a while, mostly observing and reacting. I never understood what the posts with the singular happy faces were about, and I didn't bother to ask. And now I know! They are used when someone's submission has been accepted! Congrats happy facers !
79-day rejection from Youth Imagination. If I hadn’t sent them three stories at once (since they are shutting down soon and I was worried in case I sent them one and they didn’t like it!) they would have accepted it. They said they loved it but that they had to decline since I already have a story out with them soon.
In the last couple of days, form rejections from The Offing, Extra Teeth, The Empty House and The Four Faced Liar. The flash piece rejected by The Offing has already been accepted elsewhere, so all good. I didn't withdraw it because the last time I did that, a different piece in similar circumstances with different publications, I received the closest to snotty rejection so far, despite having withdrawn the submission. Responding to thread above, my limited experience is some publications are very prompt, others take forever. Better the swift slap than having it dragged out, I think. I have one that's been out 211 days. I mean, that's nearly half a year!
Got my first form letter rejection from an agent tonight! I'm guessing it's probably not a good idea to mention the agency. But that's neat. Only 7 days from the submission, even though they said it could take up to 12 weeks. I appreciate the prompt rejection more than I would the waiting and waiting with no response at all.