Well, Clarkeworld was fast, but not as fast as anticipated. They are still like lightening. The odds seem low. When I subbed, I was 160 in the queue. They took about a week to clear that. If they are getting 150 a week, that's 600 a month. One may get chosen. That's 0.0016%.
I have ten stories out right now. Mostly dark fantasty or soft sci fi. I like genre fiction, it's fun. Because I'm starting with the pro markets, there will be many rejections. The first one, I will be honest, had a sting to it. The second one didn't hurt. Further pain, if any, will only be caused by the total impact of the rejections.
The good news is, in my real world job, I am currently a defense attorney. I got an acquittal on my first defense case. It was a good kid, too. Trials are all about stories.
I'm beginning to learn more about myself by seeing what emerges from my writing. In almost everything I've written so far, some one dies. Usually some one very close to the main character. Happy endings are rare, but so are hopeless ones. My literary world is violent.
It makes sense, because I tend to write about things that bother me.
On the story front, I have three in the hopper. A horror, a sci-fi horror, and a straight literary. I have one story ready to sub, but I'm waiting for a particular publisher to re-open. I plan on finishing at least one or two more by the end of the month.
If you're going to be rejected, might as well be rejected by the best and join some pretty good company! Good luck with it elsewhere.
ReplyDeleteI'm shooting for 100 rejections. So far, I'm 2/100. Luckily, not a one is for formatting/guidelines, so at least I have that down.
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