Rejection, rejection, rejection...

Discussion in 'Traditional Publishing' started by deadrats, Aug 19, 2016.

  1. deadrats

    deadrats Contributor Contributor

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    My MFA was fully funded with a modest stipend. And I sure hope this isn't going nowhere. I did my undergrad in journalism and had a career as a journalist. My graduate degree is in fiction. What I do now is art to me. I am an artist. I think people should study what they really want to do. It gives you a better shot at doing what you want than if you didn't study it. An MFA took my writing to a level I'm not sure I would have reached otherwise.
     
  2. matwoolf

    matwoolf Banned Contributor

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    Mmm,

    MFA certainly saved you the disgrace of arsebores united urging you to omit the 'I feel,' 'saw,' and 'sensed' from your prose, and never developed a public & shaming adverb habit - not on the web anyway. Also rhyming couplets, although I, myself still suffer episodes..

    My old pal with the mental health is doing a Masters in CW. Although funny - I tracked him down last week, he was up and swimming, busy, like our roles had reversed in the five years under the bridge. He was like 'how's showbusiness, Matty? Last time I heard you were being paid £25 for your short story, wowza.'

    'So right Boris, I am living the dream.' I had to protect him from the truth of my exile, my blanket lifestyle. Probably this pain is producing some of my most profound late period writes.

    [As a sidenote - I [ego] replied to that Yale University study enquiry, don't think I'm being scammed...can they scam you with 1000 words of your prose? It's yale.edu, so seems kosher.]
     
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  3. matwoolf

    matwoolf Banned Contributor

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    At least you submitted inside Granta's window - what is it, one week? I entered a contest yesterday - a semi-quango kind of thing - £3000 prize AnD sent something inappropriate to an Irish lit mag. And did a crit on a pal, was rather harsh, feel very mean.
     
  4. Krispee

    Krispee Contributor Contributor

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    Well, you do have to be careful on the net these days, so much phishing going on. As you say, yale.edu seems ok but if there are ways to check it out then do as much as you can, just in case.
     
  5. deadrats

    deadrats Contributor Contributor

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    I try to squeeze in when they are open for submissions. Since I submit at least somewhere every week, I tend to know when things open and close. I will send you a message to remind you when they open again if you would like. Good luck with the contest. Even if you have it in you to be harsh and mean, it probably just means you're hungry. Have a sandwich, my friend. :)
     
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  6. deadrats

    deadrats Contributor Contributor

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    A 100-day form rejection from Ninth Letter. I think I might need to get a hundred or two hundred rejections to get an acceptance. The odds are never in my favor.
     
  7. matwoolf

    matwoolf Banned Contributor

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    Have you put a collection together, hawk those as well?
     
  8. deadrats

    deadrats Contributor Contributor

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    I think I will put a collection together at some point, but I probably need to sell a few more stories individually before I can really start to think of a collection. It's kind of hard to think about what to include and how to put it all together. And then to find a publisher... I don't know. I've got my novel in the works, and I hope that will be my first book. And I think if I publish enough short stories, the idea of a collection might sort of form on it's own. But thanks for the suggestion. Have you thought about doing a collection?
     
  9. matwoolf

    matwoolf Banned Contributor

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    Competitions/grants/calls where they ask for 'collections...'

    ...'Board of Kentucky Authors Annual Bursary Award...' type
     
  10. deadrats

    deadrats Contributor Contributor

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    The grants I apply for never ask for a writing sample of that length. And the competitions I've seen for collections are pretty much a joke if you ask me. You have to pay to enter and then if you win, it's not much more money than selling one story on its own. I think a collection works best after someone has a bit more of a publishing history than I do at the moment.
     
  11. matwoolf

    matwoolf Banned Contributor

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    Aw, shit.

    Seriously a moment - I found one comp, an EU-type - Institute of Mutual Friendship - kind of thing, £3000 + flights to the award - would be okay. That one's so precious to me I'm not even sharing it.
     
  12. deadrats

    deadrats Contributor Contributor

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    Well, if you've looked into it and feel good about it, go for it! Will they publish your collection if you win? Are they buying your work outright or will you receive royalties from this as well? Honestly, I would probably enter for the free trip. :) I don't really know too much about competitions, only that I spend way too much entering them. Grants and fellowships seem to be there for what you will write more than what you have written, maybe? And a lot of those don't have these crazy entrance fees.
     
  13. matwoolf

    matwoolf Banned Contributor

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    No, obviously I read through the first thing that approximated their theme and posted it :/
     
  14. Krispee

    Krispee Contributor Contributor

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    Well good luck with that, paying for the flights too? Nice.
     
  15. matwoolf

    matwoolf Banned Contributor

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    I got to win first @Krispee - although the third ticket is yours x
     
  16. Krispee

    Krispee Contributor Contributor

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    I wouldn't dream of standing in your way but thanks.
    Are competitions more prestigious to literary writers then or is it all just grist to the mill?
     
    Last edited: Mar 1, 2018
  17. X Equestris

    X Equestris Contributor Contributor

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    Finally got a response on that submission (a personal rejection) from way back in October. I think it mostly came down to editorial personal preference. One of the reviewers didn't like similes. One wanted more subversion of the premise. One wanted elaboration on throwaway references that were only there to give the world some flavor. Overall, though, the story still got high marks. Between that and the fact that it was a reprint submission, I'm not as down as I might be otherwise.
     
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  18. deadrats

    deadrats Contributor Contributor

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    A 100-day from rejection from Ninth Letter. I started to get my hopes up a little because they were taking so long. Silly me.
     
  19. deadrats

    deadrats Contributor Contributor

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    I don't think good news ever comes on the weekend.
     
  20. deadrats

    deadrats Contributor Contributor

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    After 175 days I just got a form rejection from The Gettysburg Review.
     
  21. deadrats

    deadrats Contributor Contributor

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    Quick 16-day form rejection from Colorado Review.
     
  22. matwoolf

    matwoolf Banned Contributor

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    ...

    Good luck @Rats
     
    Last edited: Mar 9, 2018
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  23. deadrats

    deadrats Contributor Contributor

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    Just got another one. This time it's a 165-day form from The Iowa Review.
     
  24. deadrats

    deadrats Contributor Contributor

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    And they just keep coming. What's going on today? Today is not my day.
     
  25. deadrats

    deadrats Contributor Contributor

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    A 65-day form rejection from The Rumpus. Shoot! I really wanted to get the piece I sent them in there. Thought it was a really good fit. I'm really trying to hone in on my submission skills, but even the markets I read regularly and feel like I know reject my best work.
     

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