Middling It

fihr

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My last Penumbra guest blog went up, this one about what inspired me to write speculative fiction.

Congratulations - this is braggage!

Also, good luck with the rewrites for the cable channel - hope they gave a clear idea of what they needed -- that's awesome news!

And congrats PD for the bump!

I'm 133 days at TMMag, and 110 at Aure@lis. I am concerned the former has lost my sub or their response went missing, and my query to them has had no response yet. But maybe they are just busy. The other, I'm sure I will hear from either way in due course, because it was bumped to editors.
 
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renard79

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I waited 158 days and three queries, then finally pulled my poem from Scape. I don't know if they're still publishing or not, but it doesn't feel good!

Otherwise, I'm at 199, 136, 93 and with 27 other subs at 52 days or less. I tend to crank out a pretty heavy submission load. Should hear some things in April, if not before.
 

Marzioli

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Congratulations - this is braggage!

Also, good luck with the rewrites for the cable channel - hope they gave a clear idea of what they needed -- that's awesome news!
Thanks! I think we got some good leads. They apparently liked what they heard, apart from the criticisms. :) (And you're right about the braggage, I'll make the changes).
 

quovadis

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Up to 37 days (29 past the editorial bump) at Shimmer! Crickets, indeed - it's past all the Duotrope submissions (except for the weird 154/654 day ones - what's up with those?) so nothing left to do now but bite my nails...

ETA: And up to 80 days for a story at Electric Vel0cipede (and still rather low in the queue) - frustrating given the discouraging of simultaneous subs, but I'd love the story to appear there!
 

alexshvartsman

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Up to 37 days (29 past the editorial bump) at Shimmer! Crickets, indeed - it's past all the Duotrope submissions (except for the weird 154/654 day ones - what's up with those?) so nothing left to do now but bite my nails...

My Shimmer sub is at 37 days as well!

I hope our stories are making friends in the slush pile :)
 

Eliza C

We’ll see what happens from here…
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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.

Still sounds encouraging! Best of luck with this.
 

LolaVelo

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Does Shimmer always send second-round bump notifications? Sometimes? Always? And if so... at how many days do they usually happen? Thanks for any info! :)
 

O'Dandelo

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Does Shimmer always send second-round bump notifications? Sometimes? Always? And if so... at how many days do they usually happen? Thanks for any info! :)

Only one time did I not get an email. I think they nearly always notify you though. As far as how many days, it can be any number. Depends on which slush reader you get and when your story is read. I have noticed they've been slower than usual lately.
 

alexshvartsman

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Lola: 3-20 days typically. I know it's a pretty big range, but as Michael pointed out it varies based on who the initial reader is for the story.
 

Aggy B.

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Second-round bump from Waylines this morning. This is the same story that made the final round at LORE (and was ultimately rejected) so I'm kind of biting my nails now.

Aggy, not nervous at all :p
 

quovadis

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Hm...submitomancy strategy help, chaps?

A particular contest I'd like to enter has its deadline tomorrow, but the story I'd like to submit is very - very - loudly cricketing at Sh1mmer (at 42 days since submission, and 34 since the editorial bump).

Do I assume I'll hear from Sh1mmer soon and pre-emptively submit (knowing the contest won't make its decisions for months, allowing me to withdraw it if I still haven't heard from them and/or if I get accepted), or just submit something else...?

Getting accepted at Sh1mmer would be an absolute dream come true - although I hope I don't end up one of those odd outliers (150 or 250-day rejections) showing up on duotrope...
 

alexshvartsman

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Don't do it, quovadis.

There are few things editors hate more than simultaneous submissions when their guidelines prohibit such.

If your story is hanging in at Shimmer for 40+ days, it will likely sell at a solid market even if they don't take it. So don;t worry about missing the contest -- there are plenty of other places to try with it.
 

cmtruesd

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I don't know if I qualify for this thread since I'm querying a novel, but I definitely think "middling it" describes me. I have 3 partials and a full out. I feel like I'll NEVER hear back. Instead of writing my new WIP, I go back and obsess over the email correspondence between the agents and me. Iyiyiiiii
 

quovadis

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Fair enough, Alex! I don't think I could bring myself to ever violate sim subs (although I'm not sure how it works with a contest vs. "submission" as such, since in the former case I'd have a general idea about when decisions would be made, so I could withdraw if need be...). Especially at a market I love - it just feels wrong...

I'll submit something else tomorrow! (unless I hear from Sh1mmer by then).
 

kd1984

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Have a very loud cricket chirping away at Everday Fiction. I'm currently at 78 days. There is the mention that if there has been no response in 75 days, I'm free to query, but I don't want to rush the process if they are seriously considering it. And they have a tracking system, so I know it has been opened and read.

Sigh....
 

alexshvartsman

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Have a very loud cricket chirping away at Everday Fiction. I'm currently at 78 days. There is the mention that if there has been no response in 75 days, I'm free to query, but I don't want to rush the process if they are seriously considering it. And they have a tracking system, so I know it has been opened and read.

Sigh....

FWIW most if not all of my EDF responses (both good and bad) took longer than 78 days. Hang in there!
 

Marzioli

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Got a hold request from ASIM. This is my first time in the third round there! Now I don't have to think about that story for another three months. :D
 

talkwrite

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I have had a submission at Union Station for over 6 months and as per Submittable it has been In progress for 3 of those... I did send a query about ten days ago- no response. It gets worse- their (Union Station) website is blocked by my security program. Does anyone know if they went defunct?
 

Marzioli

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I have had a submission at Union Station for over 6 months and as per Submittable it has been In progress for 3 of those... I did send a query about ten days ago- no response. It gets worse- their (Union Station) website is blocked by my security program. Does anyone know if they went defunct?
As of the 19th of March, they're still posting on their Facebook page. Also their last news update shows January 2013. I wouldn't give up hope. Some markets are just horrible with responding to queries.
 

fihr

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Got a hold request from ASIM. This is my first time in the third round there! Now I don't have to think about that story for another three months. :D

Excellent news! Hope it goes well!

And good luck to everyone else with crickets out there. I've got one now that I think might just be a lost story. No reply from the magazine even after two queries and 142 days.
 

Marzioli

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Thanks Fiona! This one's fairly experimental, so I'll be surprised if an editor finds room for it. But it's short, so who knows?

In other middling news, my team is gearing up to submit our cartoon rewrites to the network. Just polishing them up today. As I said before, they usually accept around 5-12 out of 700+ submissions, so this is--oh, I dunno--Clarkesworld level chances. Still, nothing ventured, nothing gained, and all that.
 

Niccolo

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Just receieved a rewrite request (my first one ever) from Every Day Fiction for the only humor piece I've ever written. They just want a few tweaks, a little clarification, and they seem very enthusiastic about the world itself. Needless to say but I'm saying it anyway, I'm excited.

Also, smiley face :D