Does anyone else seem to realize that good news never comes on the weekend? It's always a bit of a relief when I make it through the weekend without a rejection. It seems like a lot of places weed through the slush pile on the weekend. Rejections get sent out and the maybes get held or passed up to editors. A bunch of my submissions on submittable are now in-progress, actually almost all of them are as of this weekend. Still, this has to be the slowest moving industry in the world. Why is it that smart people never tend to be in a hurry?
Perhaps because smart people never feel the need to be in a hurry, or that they are so busy doing that dealing with people is a secondary thing. Also smart people tend to be also rich people and they are either too busy making money or too rich to be bothered by others. Or a million other reasons. In short it isn't always smart people who are slow.
Me and my brother are both writers submitting to many different litmags but he has a secret method because he's been having more luck than me. I got a rejection letter today and he got an acceptance letter. I feel like the two magicians in The Prestige. Either he's simply a better writer than me or he has a secret to finding good publications.
I don't think it's necessarily a good idea to judge "good publications" based on whether they accept your writing or not. I think it's more important to look at your goal and how the publication will help you progress toward them. So, if your main goal is to be in as many different publications as possible, then, yes, the most important thing is to get accepted, and that's all. But if your main goal is to build a reputation, or to learn from great editors, or to make as much money from each story as possible, or...? Then your success criteria will be something different than just how many acceptances you get. Right?
That's true. I know that he has the same mindstate as me so his writing style is similar to mine. I also read his work and it's good. However, the problem might lie in storytelling. He uses more difficult words and plots whereas my work is clear and simple. I simply want to feel more like a writer. I remember the beginning of last year I had sales left and right and had to hurry and write more. This year... Quite the contrary. But yes, everything you mentioned applies to my desire.
That's sort of a tough position to be in. Of course, you want to be there for your brother and be happy for him, but he is your direct competition, especially if you're submitting to the same places. I have writer friends I'm very close to and there is a sort of strange competitiveness no matter how supportive we want to be. I try to believe there is room at the top for everyone. We all get out time. I feel like you probably downplay your success or now you're trying harder markets because I am rejected like crazy. Did I say I am rejected like crazy? And I don't even have a writing brother.
So, yeah, a pretty good marker tends to be the good places always reject me. They reject everyone. That's how this works as we the writers question what we're really made of with relentless attempts. I'm not sure what I really think of as success. Oh, God. What if I've peaked? I'm in this because I really want to be part of some literary tapestry. Reading is one of my favorite things to do. And being published in places I read long before I thought about sending them anything was pretty cool. I don't care if I'm in a million publications, but I would like a million dollars. I'm just saying something to the world and it's pretty cool to think people out there might be listening. I think where you publish probably matters more than how many places. But it's all really hard.
A big sale can be worth any extended time of rejection. I feel most like a writer when I'm all by myself just writing. You'll get to where you want to be. just keep at it. I know you're not new to any of this, but we are always growing and refining our skills. I truly believe and hope that I haven't even begun to write my best stories. But I will say I work at it all the time and believe me I will be ready.
A 146-day form rejection from The Georgia Review. Yes, they are another good one that likes to reject me.
It seems to be the natural reaction to blame your own writing skills I suppose. I just feel like i've been progressing very slowly and he caught up to me. I'm very happy for him though. I guess this is to keep us from getting lost in our own pretention.
What else can you blame? Any other excuse is likely a copout. I've put a lot into developing my skills. And there's still so far to go. I am the first to admit I need to write a lot of crap stories. And I foolishly think that each one of them is great temporarily. But them there are the ones where I see my progression. It's there on the page and better than I've done before. I can see the stages I've gone through as a writer. Sure, the progression seems slow and it's not always clear if it's even there are not. But if you are really putting yourself into this, reading and writing and adoring short fiction, you are progressing. This is really a matter of perseverance more than talent. A lot of my friends in real life can be a bit tight-lipped about where they are submitting or what grants they are applying for and such. I get they we are each other's competition. I tend to not worry to much about that sort of thing. There's always going to be a lot of completion whether I know them personally or not. But maybe you and your brother have been competitive in other ways in the past and if writing is your thing, it might not feel so great to share the spotlight. I'm speculating a lot, but I think there is a tendency for some writers to feel the competitiveness more than others. I'm not the best writer, but I am prolific and I think that's a much better thing to be. Your brother may have talent, but you've been in this longer. And even if you both last, you can both make it. I truly believe there is room at the top for everyone.
Well, I don't want it to sound like i'm completely talentless. I learn and grow from each story I write but I just know I'm lacking something. If you'd like to trade stories maybe you can get a stab at it. I'll beta read whatever you got.
I don't have anything that's quite ready to show, but I am close on something. Maybe after the weekend. I'll send you a message and we can figure out the details.
Made it through another weekend rejection free. I have a feeling that the rest of the summer might be quiet. Who's ready for the fall? I can't wait until these places reopen for submissions and I can try them with some of my new work.
I know that he has the same mindstate as me so his writing style is similar to mine. I also read his work and it's good. However, the problem might lie in storytelling. He uses more difficult words and plots whereas my work is clear and simple. I simply want to feel more like a writer. I remember the beginning of last year I had sales left and right and had to hurry and write more. This year... Quite the contrary. ----------------------------- Hey Deadrats ~ Has your brother read the stories you had rejected and given you his opinion what he thinks the problem might be?
Hey @Michele -- I think you're comment is directed towards @Alex R. Encomienda and not me. I don't think you've read my work, though, I likely have the same problems everyone else does pretty much. I feel like a writer because I am a writer. Sure, it's nice to be published, but it's also nice to really work an idea and keep working it so it's got a shot out there. Competition is crazy. I've never had so many sales that I ran out of stories. I think I will always have more stories than sales.
A bIt fed up with ‘the game - after my R. Carver crap-failure - but I’m sure I’ll get back to it - and playing a different game fwiw...for a while, a potential return to the world of suits, interview on Tuesday week. Yip :/ Also I re-tweeted Donald Trump - by accident - I can’t delete it. Maybe my son did it, for a joke? As if I’d tweet a trump statement about taxation. Well, I did. Working today - some great adventures - 20 foot up a ladder, then 40 minutes aside some bipolar genius. He was great fun. 17 bicycles in his front room.
No...I looked at my tweet account and my eight followers and somehow I retweeted his summer tax statement/and gained a new follower btw. Same night I deleted all my annoying celebrity ‘follows.’ I literally spend an hour drafting replies such as ‘‘your definition of “racist” is not strictly rigorous. and maybe there were actually no free changing rooms? sincerely.’
