Rejected

So, I officially got my first rejection letters this summer. As well as my first rejection "damned with faint praise", which was made slightly less painful by my association of that with Emily of New Moon. Slightly. You can read all the magazines and books in the world "prepping" you for rejections by the hundreds, but there is still nothing like casting your eyes over those words, trying to gently tell you that your work sucks via a - well, what would have been a typewritten slip at one point and is now a generalized email.

This means I have officially reached a new status, though, right? That I have submitted to "official" enough places to actually get a rejection? Anyway. I have had more than one person tell me this story is good, so I am going to try again. . . only, I realized I am probably not trying for the right audience. I was pitching it as a literary piece, but it has definite Christian undertones (being, after all, a Christian) and, further to its condemnation in the eyes of the world right now, it ends happily. You know that everyone likes the dark pieces right now that give you shivers and make you feel kind of ugly inside and like you can never look at humans the same way again. I don't get that trend at all. I like to feel uplifted after reading, even bittersweet if it is a sad ending. But I digress. So I realized I should be submitting it to Christian short story magazines.

Want to know something I didn't know until this week? THERE ARE NO CHRISTIAN FICTION SHORT STORY MAGAZINES! At least, none that I can find. There are tons of Christian or spiritual blogs and magazines in general - but they all want inspirational articles of true stories, devotionals, or whatnot. Fiction? Psh. Apparently they think it is  a waste of time. So I am a little at a loss and mildly considering starting my own Christian fiction magazine.

Anyway - for all you other new writers out there. You may think you are prepared for rejection letters, but don't be afraid if it still crushes your spirit when you start getting them. Pick yourself up and move forward. Don't think about throwing out the manuscript entirely (*coughwhowoulddothat?cough*). Don't assume you are a terrible writer and your friends are just biased (*coughwhaaat?cough*). Just keep moving forward - and maybe reassess the market to which you are submitting - although, according to all the articles, you can still expect lots of rejections. What a lovely life I have to look forward to!

I just have to keep inspirational quotes around me. You should try it too.

Story Submissions

This whole developing a social profile thing is a drag. Is that a still a term people use? I guess it is now. :P So, I'll tell the truth. I haven't written since November because I read this article saying the only way to have a successful blog is to always make sure your posts revolve around something that is of use to someone else.

So, every time I think about posting, I think that I do not have anything to say that will interest people that much or be useful. Or,  I think of a good idea, think about how much time will go into researching it, and keep pushing it off and never actually get around to it.

So, all that to say, I've nothing much of use to say even now. I guess, it is hard to give inspiring words to others when you are struggling yourself. I cannot seem to get up the energy to finish editing my historical novel. In some ways, I think writers used to have it easier - they didn't have as many resources to confuse them as I do.

So, I've been putting it off by working on short stories and staring at my other book Ethrill, without actually working on it. I did, however, submit my short story Masks to a few magazines. You know, I never realized that even short story submissions have strict protocols. I was just about to hit submit on the first one when I realized that might be something I should look up. So I did, and sure enough, it took me about half an hour just to format my story correctly. Hopefully I did it right so I don't lessen my chances of getting published, however low they already are.

Personal opinion - I think it is rather ridiculous to have all these specific ways of formatting. Shouldn't a story be judged on the writing, not the formatting?

And that is all I have to say.