Rejectomancy

Hugs phineas, mhaynes, and Aggy.

....crickets.

Sorry about the Rs everyone.

14-day personal from Untied Shoelaces. This story won a contest that I regret entering it in, and now I'm trying to find a reprint market for it. I was so confident in it at one point in time, but those R's can really chip away at your ego!

4-day form from Clarkesworld.

14-day personal from Stupefying. "Excellent writing, but too depressing."

J.W. Alden said:

14-day personal from Untied Shoelaces. This story won a contest that I regret entering it in, and now I'm trying to find a reprint market for it. I was so confident in it at one point in time, but those R's can really chip away at your ego!

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No ego chipping! You will find a market for this story.

mhaynes said:

4-day form from Clarkesworld.

14-day personal from Stupefying. "Excellent writing, but too depressing."

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And a double crud. You write depressing stuff? Doesn't seem possible.

I'll add my 1 day R from Drabblecast and a 9 day from ASIM.

3 day rejection from drabblecast.

sammyjwebb said:

And a double crud. You write depressing stuff? Doesn't seem possible.

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Heh -- I'm not sure if this is intended to be serious or tongue-in-cheek. A large percentage of my stories aren't particularly happy. I suppose not too many of them aren't what I'd out and out term "depressing" but yeah... Lots of dark ones. Things like "The Morandini Genie" are definitely the exception in my writing.

Thanks for the comment either way and commiseration on your own Rs.

63-day R from On the Premises humor contest. I'm surprised that only 10 stories made it to the final round. Perhaps very specific tastes?

35-day BCS R

63-day form R from Nature's Futures.

However, it came with a bit of good news as well -- I should be getting the page proofs from them for "An Unsuitable Job For a Human" before too long. So, woot for that!

Rejection. Rejection. Rejection. I have just gotten so many I prefer not to count. This sucks. The process is definitely getting to me.

gettingby said:

Rejection. Rejection. Rejection. I have just gotten so many I prefer not to count. This sucks. The process is definitely getting to me.

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I just did a duotrope tally. I have 166 rejections since September of last year, and that doesn't count 100+ rejections for two unsold YA novels I completed. In other words, it'll get to you, but you just push through it.

gettingby said:

Rejection. Rejection. Rejection. I have just gotten so many I prefer not to count. This sucks. The process is definitely getting to me.

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I think that's why many writers give up. Maybe stop counting them. I've heard that often it takes 200 rejections to get one acceptance. (At the rate I write, that could take several years.) Also, I guess it depends on what the markets want. You might have a perfectly good story, but if its out of synch with the markets' needs, then it probably won't sell. As long as you're getting plenty of feedback (like in SYW here) and you feel your writing is improving, don't give up!

defcon6000 said:

63-day R from On the Premises humor contest. I'm surprised that only 10 stories made it to the final round. Perhaps very specific tastes?

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Yeah, I think humour is often a very specific taste. Travelling, I've found some local Australian humour doesn't translate overseas, and neither does the overseas humour translate here. Even between the generations, humour can be different. Not always, but it must factor into market acceptances at times.

fihr said:

Yeah, I think humor is often a very specific taste.

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Definitely. Love Arrested Development, The Office (UK & USA) and, say, Young Frankenstein. Hate New Girl, Big Bang Theory, and Hangover. What's funny for some will not work for others.

Reading submissions for a humor anthology I totally agree. So far the six of us have not been unanimous on even a single story.

Rejections are going out for FFO, Analog, Buzzy Mag, Apex, all places that have stories of mine. I feel like there's a target painted on my back...

gettingby said:

Rejection. Rejection. Rejection. I have just gotten so many I prefer not to count. This sucks. The process is definitely getting to me.

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Part of me feels like maybe you're finding that the process involved here is something you're not comfortable with. That part of me almost feels like I'm doing you wrong if I encourage you...

But I'm an encourager by nature... So when I read this, I thought of you, and I wanted to share it:

http://scienceforfiction.com/2012/06/08/ray-bradbury-was-a-wonderful-inspirational-failure/

Ray Bradbury, an icon, a legend... Had his stories rejected thousands of times.

Reading this gave me a bit of extra perspective on my own writing progress. I hope that maybe it will help you as well. But, ultimately, if something you're doing is making you miserable, maybe it's something you shouldn't be doing or should approach in a different way...

Sai said:

Rejections are going out for FFO, Analog, Buzzy Mag, Apex, all places that have stories of mine. I feel like there's a target painted on my back...

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Got my Analog at 30 days. Hope this doesn't mean they're slowing down like OSC's IMS.

Marzioli said:

Got my Analog at 30 days. Hope this doesn't mean they're slowing down like OSC's IMS.

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Nope. It means they were going to buy the story until they Googled you at the last second and learned about what you did to those kittens back in the early 90s.

mhaynes said:

But, ultimately, if something you're doing is making you miserable, maybe it's something you shouldn't be doing or should approach in a different way...

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I agree.

For the vast majority of people who have made it or are trying to make it as writers, it is very hard work, and not easy on your self-esteem. There is a lot of failure in this game. I've found two secrets: (1) keep writing, and (2) don't think about the rejections at all after you get them. Just stick 'em in your submissions spreadsheet and pretend they never existed.

I know those can be difficult goals to accomplish, particularly if you have other major sources of stress in your life. But if you absolutely can't pull those two things off, then writing will break your spirit, so you might as well save yourself the heartbreak and take up a more rewarding hobby.

Thanks, guys. I got another rejection today. I feel like they are coming back to me quicker than I can get them out there. And most of my submissions take a long time. It is just that time is up for a good deal of them. The more I write, the better I think my stories get. That's good, but it makes the rejections harder.