Middling It

Eliza C

We’ll see what happens from here…
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Oh dear. I think I've been praising the wrong overlords. Explains a lot. ;)
:ROFL: Funny. (I think...)

Just got my first Shimmer bump to full editorial review!
 

Lizardmaker

practical experience, FTW
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Was just offered a chance to revise a story for Knowonder!, which I think is great. It's sort of a temporary rejection, allowing me to get the story closer to what they want. I wish more zines would do this. Usually, if I get a personal rejection at all, it says "We liked your story except for xxxxx," but they don't give me a chance to fix it for them.
 

Aggy B.

Not as sweet as you think
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Just an update on Abyss & Apex: I did hear back from the new fiction editor (Carl Rafala).

He thinks my story will probably be in the summer issue and I've now been sent (and signed) a contract for it. Hopefully, they'll be getting things moving again without too much delay.
 

fihr

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Congrats and good luck, Sai, Eliza and Project Deadlight, on all the awesome bumps up! Eliza, that is wonderful news re Shimmer! I'd find it very hard to concentrate on anything after hearing that.

And good luck with your rewrite, Lizardmaker - they must have really enjoyed a lot about your story to ask for one.

I have two long crickets - the one at Aure@lis just requires patience, but the other (elsewhere @ 126 days) I queried five days back, having heard nothing since the acknowledgement of receipt, and am thinking I should maybe start submitting it elsewhere soon.
 

squeaky pram

oldie turned newbie
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chirp chirp chirp CHIRP CHIRP CHIRP CHIRP!!! ;)
 

alexshvartsman

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chirp chirp chirp CHIRP CHIRP CHIRP CHIRP!!! ;)

I would say that my crickets know how your crickets feel, but they don't. Because they're so old, they developed alzheimer's and forgot things.

179 days at IGMS
129 days at TM Magazine
66 days at Blood Types
60 days at Dark Quest Books
56 days at Drabblecast
41 days at DSF
40 days at Kasma
40 days at PodCastle
35 days at InterFictions
34 days at Toasted Cake
34 days at Crowded
34 days at Cast of Wonders
33 days at Shimmer
32 days at Interstellar Fiction
32 days at FFO
30 days at Nature

And a small crop of baby sub-30 day crickets, some of which I'll probably be whining about come May.
 

squeaky pram

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I would say that my crickets know how your crickets feel, but they don't. Because they're so old, they developed alzheimer's and forgot things.

Alex, my crickets are sitting in their rockers saying what a shame it is that your crickets developed Alzheimers at such a young age. :tongue
 

LolaVelo

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Geriatric crickets... the most dangerous kinds!

Adding to my horror is seeing younger submissions being accepted by the markets where my crickets live. I know I have to stop looking at the recent responses page on Duotrope, but how does everyone else feel when y'all see younger things have sold and yours are still in limbo?
 

fihr

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how does everyone else feel when y'all see younger things have sold and yours are still in limbo?

If I've not heard back from the market to say the sub is through slush and with the editors, I often begin to fear they've lost my submission when that happens, or else it's in someone's in-box and that person is the slow reader. Then I tend to decide when I will query, based on the market's overall response times.
 

Marzioli

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Some middling news to report. I finished writing and/or editing three short stories that are going to be pitched to a major cable network. It's a long shot (1 in 600, maybe) that they'll be made into cartoons, but I always appreciate the opportunity. The pitch is on Monday, so wish my creative team luck!
 

Eliza C

We’ll see what happens from here…
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Some middling news to report. I finished writing and/or editing three short stories that are going to be pitched to a major cable network. It's a long shot (1 in 600, maybe) that they'll be made into cartoons, but I always appreciate the opportunity. The pitch is on Monday, so wish my creative team luck!

Wow - what an exciting prospect! Much luck wished!
 

alexshvartsman

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Some middling news to report. I finished writing and/or editing three short stories that are going to be pitched to a major cable network. It's a long shot (1 in 600, maybe) that they'll be made into cartoons, but I always appreciate the opportunity. The pitch is on Monday, so wish my creative team luck!

That;'s awesome, Samuel! Best of luck.
 

fihr

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Some middling news to report. I finished writing and/or editing three short stories that are going to be pitched to a major cable network. It's a long shot (1 in 600, maybe) that they'll be made into cartoons, but I always appreciate the opportunity. The pitch is on Monday, so wish my creative team luck!

Absolutely! Tons of luck coming your way! Very exciting--hope everyone can sleep the night before!
 

squeaky pram

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Geriatric crickets... the most dangerous kinds!

Adding to my horror is seeing younger submissions being accepted by the markets where my crickets live. I know I have to stop looking at the recent responses page on Duotrope, but how does everyone else feel when y'all see younger things have sold and yours are still in limbo?

Lola, I know what you mean. However, I almost never see acceptances to my targeted markets (maybe four in two years of duotroping?), so I just compare rejection times. It's hard to know when I'm reading too much into the stats. I go from being encouraged when all the rejections are much earlier than my cricket, but then, all of the sudden, I'll see a form rejection reported for a much older cricket and my hopes are drained. I've got a feeling it's all a bit unhealthy, but I do it anyway. :Shrug:
 

kd1984

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Lola, I know what you mean. However, I almost never see acceptances to my targeted markets (maybe four in two years of duotroping?), so I just compare rejection times. It's hard to know when I'm reading too much into the stats. I go from being encouraged when all the rejections are much earlier than my cricket, but then, all of the sudden, I'll see a form rejection reported for a much older cricket and my hopes are drained. I've got a feeling it's all a bit unhealthy, but I do it anyway. :Shrug:


I'm in this EXACT situation right now as I try to read the tea leaves over at ST. I have a story sitting at much longer than the average cricket, and try as I might hope is sneaking around my addled brain. Oh yes, certainly unhealthy but even worse unproductive because it keeps me from new work.
 

LolaVelo

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I'm in this EXACT situation right now as I try to read the tea leaves over at ST.

Reading tea leaves... yes that's exactly it!!! It's so unhealthy, yet I can't help myself!! I guess it's taking my mind of other anxiety in my life, but whew, I'm going to need some chamomile tea leaves soon!
 

squeaky pram

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I'm in this EXACT situation right now as I try to read the tea leaves over at ST.

Reading tea leaves... yes that's exactly it!!! It's so unhealthy, yet I can't help myself!! I guess it's taking my mind of other anxiety in my life, but whew, I'm going to need some chamomile tea leaves soon!

I agree, the tea leaves metaphor is perfect. Except maybe tea leaves are more reliable? ;)

Interesting idea, Lola. I wonder what anxieties I'm trying to displace. Or am I just creating more?

Loudest current Crickets: 158, 94, 107, 102, 105, and... 225! My markets never send second-round emails and the like, so I just sit here in the dark hovered over the statistics teacup, trying to interpret the dregs. Is "get a life" the appropriate phrase here?

p.s., fingers crossed for everyone's actual good middlers!
 

Marzioli

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Update on the cartoon pitch. They gave us a tentative no, with a "rewrite" request. In other words, we get one more chance with these ideas with a better sense of what they're expecting. Could be worse.
 

LolaVelo

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Update on the cartoon pitch. They gave us a tentative no, with a "rewrite" request. In other words, we get one more chance with these ideas with a better sense of what they're expecting. Could be worse.

Sorry to hear that. Great you get another shot at it though!

...and on the tea leaves front... another submission 10 days younger than mine just got accepted to that same market I've been watching...
 

Marzioli

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Cutting and pasting this in braggage.
 
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