Hockey sounds like a tough game. I guess I'm in a not too dissimilar position to you in that I don't make a living from my writing so can afford to agonize over every single word without worrying about paying the rent. I tend to just write when I have the energy rather than pushing through, which I should do more to be fair.
Obviously it's not. That's why girls play hockey and boys play rugger, you revisionist. Hardly Shinty, eh? Kingston Grammar play hockey. I think I made my point. So, I'm stuck in the 'usual.' The blog entry has turned into a full blown 2000 worder. Originally was a spoof piece for any slimy travel mag. And now? My original plan was to spoof those competition winners in 'Geographical' type...stars twinkled in the Twareg sky. I spooned my couscous aside the Mathei tribesmen, they say travel broadens the mind, yawn, yawn, explosion. Thinking on.. [incomprehensible end section section]
My luck they'd recognize my brand of sarcasm and accept me out of spite. Then it would go in an entirely different direction, which would result in my having a published work in a ladies knitting magazine. Which wouldn't be entirely horrible, considering there are some seriously talented knitters out there. It just wouldn't be the publication I'd be gunning for. As to hockey being a difficult game, I think anyone can step on the ice and acquire some semblance of skill. However, to actually play at a professional, competitive level at all, it becomes your life. I never played at that level, only co-ed university games where I was surrounded by defence who made me look like a good goalie. I consider the editor to be like that defence. Anyhow, this thread is about rejection, and its a sobering look at what the path to being a published writer looks like, so I'll stop with the silliness. It's detracting from the seriousness of the journey deadrats is on. Despite the facetiousness of my commentary, I do quite appreciate seeing it.
Revisionist, seriously? And I don't know who Kingston Grammar are...and I meant Ice Hockey, just forgot the ice part. Why not keep it a spoof piece, just make it longer. Well it was a little bit of fun for a moment, we all need a little of that now and then. The path to anything worthwhile is difficult, if it wasn't, they'd all be doing it.
@CerebralEcstasy -- Silliness and other stories, rants, pathways are more than welcome. Sure, this is a serious journey, but there's nothing wrong with a little fun along the way. I hope this thread doesn't discourage anyone. Selling stories is really, really hard. But then it happens. Then it goes back to being really hard again. This thread has turned into the story of persistence somewhat. Persistence is equally as important as the writing, in my opinion. Without persistence some of the best stories never see publication. It takes practice to handle this amount of rejection and feel fueled by it rather than discouraged. Maybe you should write about hockey, fiction or not. You know the game, and that's got to count for something.
Sent off the Honorable Mention story to a new market today. This has to be the first time I get to use a rejection to sell a work.
Ice hockey is rather more niche [in England]. Bandy is rampant. The road on draft is torture. Oh, and to write a - one draft wonder again. I've gone - past to present tense - and somehow the 'buffoon voice' now turns a very sinister narrator. Fascinating how a 'comedy' ends up a thriller - in one room, inside one head in one day, and turns back again tomorrow to repeat, return, become a woman in drag and then everybody all at once jumps the 3rd person narrator in his happy ending, change.
I actually used to know someone who played hockey, school and then further, not sure how far he got. As for ice hockey, do they actually play that in this country? Are you writing literary or science fiction, because your description would out-weird China Mieville?
This is what really gets to me. A bunch of my submissions are super old. Some of them have been out over a year. I can see on the submission manager that they're "in-progress." So I don't really know how to follow up or what to say. I tried to follow up with one place about a week ago and didn't hear back. But I'm not even sure I contacted the right person for this sort of thing and I can't very well go contacting everyone. Then there's another one where a previous submission that was close bought me a ticket into directly emailing a new story to the editor. Several months have past. I could send a follow-up email. But I feel like it might just provoke a rejection. There's two more right around that year mark. Are all these really still being considered or are they forgotten? It's not so much the wait that gets to me. (though that does get to me too). But when something really might be held or even better published... Well, out of all these old submission can I assume that they're in the final stages of consideration? The only other answer is that I have been forgotten. These submissions have been out way longer than what they say their response time is and all the stats on duotrope. Fingers crossed? However, close calls are the story of my life.
It all seems a little unrealistic doesn't it, almost like a story in itself. Not enough staff perhaps, or ambivalence has set in and they just don't care one way or another.
There are some places that don't respond unless they are interested, but the places I'm talking about here aren't those places. And I can long into the submission manager and see they haven't been rejected. One button and they could reject me. I would like to think this is all good news but more likely its all forthcoming disappointment. Should I just email all these folks and see what happens? It could be like some sort of experiment and I could report back on how it goes. That way you all could have a sense of if and when to follow up. I'm a little nervous, but I would hope an email wouldn't factor into their decisions. Would you wait of follow up? Either way, if you guys want me to try this for sort of research for our thread here, I'll still do it. What do you guys think?
It's difficult if you think that in responding, or inquiring, you might jeopardize your chances of getting published. One or two emails maybe but other than that it's the usual waiting game.
Maybe not the best plan, not that waiting quietly would change any of the outcomes. A 269-day rejection from Cimarron Review.
I was going to say, may have just been a coincidence. I'm sure there is something somewhere on one of the sites I submitted to where it says you can inquire, after a certain period has elapsed.
That wasn't one I emailed about. It actually came in super fast. And though they had some nice things to say, it obviously wasn't considered for too long. But that's okay. I've got something new to try them with. I've only gotten that one response so far. This whole follow-up thing is unchartered territory for me. I'll let you guys know if I get responses and how those go.
Yeah, be interesting to know. I'm sure you are fine to do so, just whether you will receive a reply from that any quicker than your submission is the interesting point.
I was hoping more than one of them would get back to me today. part of the thing is that I'm holding off submitting those stories other places because it's been so long with these guys. All but one of them are out at other places, but I would have them on submission more places if these turn out to get rejected. For one of these stories I pulled that particular story from all other places because this story seemed to have been held for quite some time. It's been over a freaking year. Does it really take that long to know if you want to publish it. I just keep telling myself long waits mean good news, but who knows? How many submissions you got out right now, @Krispee? Or anyone else? The market is calling for our stories. Hope you're all putting your work out there. This is the time to do it. Fingers crossed for everyone.
I've only got the one out there so far. Been working on the short you looked at for me for a while now. Sometimes I get home from work and I just can't write, my mind is full of work stuff (or I'm mentally knackered) and it's hard to get rid of. I usually write a little later in the night but it all takes energy. I'm nearly finished though, then it will be the Sc-Fi and Fantasy magazines. A question: if you enter a competition would it be fair to say that they would only let you know if you had placed in the top three, if you don't hear by a certain date then you are free to carry on and submit again?
