Ha, I'm sure you have had many such conundrums, so you'll have to be a bit more specific as to experiences. Please don't talk about roosters, I do like me some chicken @ deadrats - Good luck with the new/old story, I'm sure it's a humdinger, a whiz-popper, and a tall tale all rolled into one.
Thanks! I think it goes back to my low self-confidence. I wrote a story I liked, so I feel like it must be a fluke and I couldn’t ever write anything else good again. But I’m working on my confidence, and writing more stuff anyway!
Rejection for a submission out roughly two months arrived today. Gonna see how my other poetry submission fares - then if neither of them pan out, I'm going to compile all five of them and send them to the national newspaper. Worth a shot.
Newspapers aren't where I turn when I'm looking to read poetry or even submit poetry. But just about every literary journal accepts poetry and some exclusively publish poetry. I can only think of one national newspaper that occasionally does publish poetry. But with newspapers I'm basically there to read the news. I've published works in national newspapers, but it wasn't creative writing. It might be worth considering where you read poetry when thinking of places to submit.
I'll let you in on a little secret. Every time I write something good I think it's a fluke. Every time I publish something I think it's a fluke. Sometimes it's really hard to believe we're any good. I totally get that. But one story is nothing. If you had never written that story, I bet you would still be a writer. I think if you're serious about short stories and publishing them, it's important to be prolific. I've always got something in the works. And this new fluke is going to be better than the last fluke. I'm just saying I know the feeling. You just can't let it stop you or slow you down.
I'm pretty sure I saw a call for submissions for this one on duotrope. It's a little strange, I think. There is also a journal called Chronically Lit. They want stories that deal with chronic illness, but I think they failed to realize that lit is slang for drunk. So, basically it means chronically drunk. I would not submit to either of these places. They're new and I don't believe they pay or pay much. And, I agree, it sort of seems like a joke. I don't think that's what these publishers intended, but do you really want to list them as writing credits? It's sort of important to think about who is publishing your work and what that will look like in a bio or CV.
Ha, yeah, that is a weird one, and I hadn't really thought about it that light. I guess for you guys that would be pretty important given your desire to be a full time writers. Mat actually sent me a link to the actual magazine and you could knock me down with a short story. I honestly didn't realize a lot of these magazines existed before coming here. The world is becoming a stranger place the longer I live. By the way, looking at that magazine's guidelines, what is neurodiversity? Also, just to make sure I didn't offend anyone, I wasn't being mean when I mentioned the joke thing.
I suffer from mental illness and write a lot of stories about it so it was perfect for me (and would have paid a lot actually) but they didn’t want it.
I figured, given the nature of the magazine. Shame about the story. Anyway, if I offended in any way I apologize.
@Woodstock Writer -- I just wanted to make a recommendation to you for a possible place you might want to submit. The Bellevue Literary Review is a highly respected journal that publishes works dealing with illness and health. It is really focused and they put out a stunning publication. I had a subscription for two years. They do take a long time to respond, but they also claim that at least two people read a story through before deciding to reject a piece. According to duotrope, their acceptances around 177 days, about a months longer than the average rejection. They do charge a submission fee, but if you are a subscriber there is no fee. From what you've told us here, it sounds like you're dealing with quite a bit. It's really great that you can channel that through your writing. This journal might be a good fit for some of your work. I will say they are a pretty hard market to crack, but if you read some of their issues, the work they put out is both accessible and important. And it would be a pretty big writing credit. Anyway, I just wanted to make you aware of it case you weren't already. This one is up there with my favorite journals.
Thanks for this! That’s really helpful. I just looked them up on Duotrope. The trouble is I had basically mainly only favourited publications that pay. It’s not because I want the money- although obviously money is great!- but more as a validation thing- ‘it only counts if I get paid as if they’re willing to pay they must like my writing’- and I think I need to get away from that. I will definitely check them out .
They do pay. Duotrope isn't always 100 percent accurate with these things. There are a few places listed as non-paying that really do pay. Also, If you get something published in Bellevue Literary Review, it will help you out in terms of writing credits a lot more than some of these low-paying places that no one has really heard of. I believe the pay-rate is semi-pro. And on there website it mentions something about paying through grants when funds are available, but based on what I know the pay is decent. And they are really a great publication. It might be worth getting a subscription.
I just wanted to add that I wouldn't base a publication solely on if or what it pays. There are a lot of really great places that don't pay and there are shitty ones that do. I don't think money deters how much it counts. I would put name recognition way above that. But that's just me personally.
Oh! That’s not very helpful then (Duotrope being inaccurate, I mean). Either way, right now just being published is the goal. With my non-fiction, I had many articles published with the Mighty, who don’t pay anything, and I was happy just to be published. Then I branched out and tried You & Me magazine and got paid $90 for an article. Maybe I need to do a similar thing with fiction.
