Writing Blog

20230923 Submitting Time

September 23, 2023, 3:15pm

So, I received a weird rejection. They liked the story and the way it was written, but not the way it was written nor the story.

Well... that market has been removed from my "submit to again" list.

I spent yesterday and this morning submitting to a total of 15 magazines, anthologies and online e-zines. Going through the archives of previous stories, making changes where appropriate, formatting according to whatever variations of Shunn they demand, reformatting (in some cases) smart quotation marks for straight, changing spelling to US (or, as we call it, "wrong" spelling), going through online submission portals, or going through emails, rewriting my writers Bio to give them what they want without giving away much of my personal details, supplying an author's photo in a couple of cases (done with my wrestling mask on; I don't do this to become known), and then going to the next one. 11 short stories, one poem, one essay, one novel, one novella.

The lesson here is one on how to forget the woman you like doesn't even think of you: work and don't let your mind stop working.

I have a virtual write-in at 6pm my time tonight for a couple of hours, so I hope to get this current novel close to finished; I want it done before mid-October so NaNoWriMo is just the new novel. The cover's got some positive feedback; I love it when Pixabay has a picture that perfectly captures what I hope my story will be about.

Trying so hard to be positive here.

She ignored me this morning (she works where I am staying)...

STOP!

No more dwelling on her...

Ha... like that's going to work.

So... write. Write. Write again. Write some more. That's the secret. It might be crap, but it's writing and it's me in a world I created where things can go the way I want them to go.