The Undiscovered Country

*Sigh* Rejected Again

I just received this little email:

Andra,

Thank you for offering your story to Orson Scott Card's Intergalactic Medicine Show.

We're sorry to tell you that we will not be using it; you are free to submit it elsewhere.

That makes Rejection Number Two for my story "Ashella's Heart."

At this point, I don't know if I have the energy to find another magazine to submit it to. Sure, I have access to significant lists of magazines that accept stories like mine, but the problem comes with the necessity of reading a copy or two of each one to find out if it's really a good fit, or not. That takes a lot of time. Sure, I could submit it to every science fiction/fantasy magazine out there without reading any of it, but that seems too . . . impersonal, I guess. Not quite the word I'm looking for, but I'm not motivated enough to find it.

So, yeah, I'm feeling a little maudlin about the whole thing.

Part of it is due to spending the last three days looking for agents for my sci-fi novel. I found over a dozen that look promising, and that's a good thing. Better to have too many choices than not enough. All I need to do is structure and personalize my query letter and synopsis according to each one's submission requirements - starting with the agents that I like best and work my way down from there.

The good news is, I at least I didn't have to wait until my birthday to find out the magazine thought my story sucked (kidding a bit there. My story didn't necessarily suck. Most likely they're looking for something different).

I just wish I could better predict what magazine/publisher/agent will fit with what I write. It's so damned unpredictable in that the only way to discover it is to send it out there to be rejected. I'd like to think I have a thick enough skin, but on days like today - apparently - it's not thick enough.