Rejectomancy

Marzioli

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Hey, that must mean your story lingered with them, right? ;)
Lol, I suppose. I actually withdrew the story after two months when I realized it was, quite frankly, rubbish. I'll have to edit the heck out of it before it's in good shape. (And on a side note, I confused Electric Literature with Glimmer Train and then with Electric Spec. And, stranger still, none of those use submishmash, so I'm on a confusion roll).
 
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O'Dandelo

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Lol, I suppose. The story was, quite frankly, rubbish. I'll have to edit the heck out of it before it's in good shape. (And on a side note, I confused Electric Literature with Glimmer Train. And, stranger still, neither of them use submishmash...).

Good luck. I'm always down for a beta read, if any of you need a fresh sensibility.

Neither of them use submishmash? *Twilight Zone music plays in background*
 

Marzioli

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Good luck. I'm always down for a beta read, if any of you need a fresh sensibility.
Thank you, sir. I appreciate the offer. If I find the time to polish it up, I might take you up on it.
Neither of them use submishmash? *Twilight Zone music plays in background*
Seriously. The dimension of ill-fated imagination is definitely at work today, and I hope it's not only affecting me. :D
 

mhaynes

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A whole passel of rejections today...

Overnight (as usual) rejection from The Colored Lens. I'm impressed how quickly they read submissions, especially considering they provide personal feedback on each.

15 day R from Shock Totem for a microfiction that I thought was kind of a long shot anyway.

15 day R from The First Line. A few nice comments, but still an R.

I don't feel like checking again, but I've got to be getting close to 50 straight Rs. I think I can honestly say this is as pessimistic as I've been about my writing at any time in recent memory...
 

O'Dandelo

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I sincerely salute your perseverance, sir. With only 10 rejections under my belt, I've already been quite pessimistic.

As I mentioned a few posts above, if you need a fresh perspective on your most beloved stories, I'm always willing to beta read. Or simply share advice and thoughts on style, voice, whatever. I've been getting some good vibes and advice here and would be happy to return the favor!
 

Aggy B.

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And there was the last one from EDF. It made it slightly further than the other two teeny-tiny stories, but only slightly.

However, since they always give comments back I think I can make a few tweaks and send them on somewhere else.
 

mhaynes

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Thanks, O'Dandelo and MeretSeger. Not planning on giving up any time soon... It's just not much fun at the moment.

I appreciate the beta offer, O'Dandelo. I may well end up taking you up on that at some point. I've got several stories that need to go through a second or third draft and then get sent out for fresh eyes. Just a matter of putting the time in...
 

alexshvartsman

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Hang in there, Michael! The rejection pile is proportional to how many subs you have out there, and you have *a lot*. You'll get some of them sold soon.
 

Project Deadlight

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Another Friday, another slightly confusing rejection. I just got what looks like the standard form R from GlimmerTrain. I've had plenty so know the format but this one is slightly different because after the R it says: "-- Good writing." None of my previous R's from them have this.

My thoughts are that maybe it is a new form for 2012 and "-- Good writing" is like a farewell they have added like "keep trying" or "better luck next time". But then the sick little deviant in me wonders if it might be a personal comment... Can anyone put me out my misery?
 

Lillie

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Another Friday, another slightly confusing rejection. I just got what looks like the standard form R from GlimmerTrain. I've had plenty so know the format but this one is slightly different because after the R it says: "-- Good writing." None of my previous R's from them have this.

My thoughts are that maybe it is a new form for 2012 and "-- Good writing" is like a farewell they have added like "keep trying" or "better luck next time". But then the sick little deviant in me wonders if it might be a personal comment... Can anyone put me out my misery?


Yeah. I can.

I got one from them yesterday (or maybe the day before)

Nothing about good writing.

Total disinterested form.
 

Lillie

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I don't know. Never subbed to them before, and I don't think I will again.

I wrote a literary flash story by accident, it's unlikely to happen again.
 

alexshvartsman

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Another Friday, another slightly confusing rejection. I just got what looks like the standard form R from GlimmerTrain. I've had plenty so know the format but this one is slightly different because after the R it says: "-- Good writing." None of my previous R's from them have this.

My thoughts are that maybe it is a new form for 2012 and "-- Good writing" is like a farewell they have added like "keep trying" or "better luck next time". But then the sick little deviant in me wonders if it might be a personal comment... Can anyone put me out my misery?

That was a specific encouraging comment for you. I guess you can consider it to be a higher tier form, but it's definitely a nice thing that they liked it enough to add a comment.
 

mhaynes

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Hang in there, Michael! The rejection pile is proportional to how many subs you have out there, and you have *a lot*. You'll get some of them sold soon.

Thanks, Alex... I'm hoping it's just a timing issue: my earlier, presumably not-as-good, stories are struggling to find homes anywhere while my more-recent, presumably at least a bit better, stories are still doing the rounds of the "tough" markets. (As if there are really many "easy" paying markets.)
 

Lillie

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6 day form from Shimmer.

Lol. I have no luck with Shimmer.
 

Marzioli

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4-day from Buzzymag. That was quick. I hope they can keep that up! The only thing I don't like about them is the synopsis requirement...
 

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4-day from Buzzymag. That was quick. I hope they can keep that up! The only thing I don't like about them is the synopsis requirement...
I also received an R from them. I don't do the synopsis since it's kind of unnecessary for a story that's only a few thousand words long; that's something for longer works. I do give them a one-sentence plot summary, which I suppose you could consider it as a synopsis.
 

Marzioli

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I also received an R from them.... I do give them a one-sentence plot summary, which I suppose you could consider it as a synopsis.
Yeah, that's basically what I did. Mine was two sentences, though.
 

alexshvartsman

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Yeah, that's basically what I did. Mine was two sentences, though.

For the first story I sent to Buzzy, I did a 2-3 sentence write-up on what the story was about. Not what I would really call a synopsis, more of a teaser. That didn't stop them from buying it, after about 3 months :)

I recently sent them a second story. Again, no detailed synopsis but I did mention that it's a sequel to the first story I sold to them (same world and main character). Its been sitting there for close to 40 days now and I just saw them accepting something that's about a week ahead of me on Duotrope, so it may be time for me to get nervous ;)
 

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Just as an aside - John Nash, of the "A BEAUTIFUL MIND" fame, got his Nobel in Economics for a mathematical algorithm for avoiding rejection.
 

gettingby

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Ouch! Just got my first short story rejection of the year. This one stings a bit, and I have to say I am sad. I thought I was used to rejection after being a journalist for ten years, but it feels different with short stories. And now I am thinking the write1/sub1 challenge could result in 52 stories being rejected. Did I really sign up for a year of rejection?