Finding The Positive In Your Story Rejection

 

Thank you for submitting “Andrew And Mullins”.

With just the two of us reading all stories ourselves, it is not possible to provide specific feedback, I’m afraid, but I can tell you that, while we won’t be publishing this piece, it was a good read—thank you!

Happy Friday Storytellers! Like most readers, I can get lost in a good story. I have been intrigued by the art of storytelling since I was a young girl and my siblings and I would sit wide-eyed in our folks bedroom listening to them share tales from their imaginations. Anyone ever hear of the “No Headed Man”?! Yep, one of the scariest  from their vault filled imaginations.

Mama and daddy couldn’t have known they were scaring the heck out of their children or did they? 🙂 of course not every story was scary, but where’s the fun in that? Anyhow, I loved story so much that I began writing my own. The short story above was submitted to Glimmer Train,  one of the most respected short-story journals in print.  You can find their website here: www.glimmertrain.com and their submission calendar  through 2015 here:  http://www.glimmertrain.com/pages/writing_guidelines.php

As you can see, Andrew and Mullins didn’t make the cut.

But, did you notice they enjoyed the read? Even when your story doesn’t  make the winning cut, you can oftentimes gauge its value by the comments from the publication of your submission. The positive comment from Glimmer trains editors encouraged me to keep writing and sharing my stories.

When you don’t win from submitting your short stories, the clues in response to your story, if positive can help lessen the blow of rejection and keep you focused on your dream to eventual publication. If you receive a negative response, still read and learn from such comments and vow to show them what you’re made of.

Editors and publishers aren’t usually so anal in their responses to your work, unless they’re overwhelmed and will send out a cold form letter of rejection. Either way, just keep rewriting and submitting until your babies find a welcoming home.

I’ve decided to change the ending of Andrew & Mullins to one of empathy for its main character before submitting it to another publication.

I love when I’m in the flow of story and even when the piece doesn’t place in one publication, I can usually take the rejection in stride and take note of the message in the rejection to use it as a learning experience that will lead me to re-work the story for a better chance at acceptance, the betterment of readers and for the betterment of my craft.

How did your upbringing influence your love for storytelling? How many re-writes do you do with a rejected piece?

I will be taking a Thanksgiving break until December. Keep writing and stay humble.

Your writer’s quote:

“It’s hell writing and it’s hell not writing. The only tolerable state is having just written.” — Robert Hasse

 

A Ending Contest and Scholarship Announcement

Happy Saturday Creatives!

For those of you who are dusting off those rejected short stories for re submission readiness, or, have a new piece in the works,  you have until  Oct 1st (Thursday) to enter Zoetrope: All Story Short Fiction Contest.

I’ve tried to win or place in this very competitive competition in the past with no luck. It is a fee-based contest, so make sure you send your best. Go here for details:

http://www.all-story.com/contests.cgi

For women of color who have a book waiting to be published or a story waiting to be told, Professional Woman Publishing ,  LLC,  is offering a $2500 book publishing scholarship!

African-American Women $2,500 book scholarship

Good luck writers and authors. Keep creating your masterpiece!

Today’ quote:

“When you build an audience, you don’t have to buy people’s attention–they give it to you. This is a huge advantage. So build an audience. Speak, write, blog, tweet, make videos–whatever. Share information that’s valuable and you’ll slowly but surely build a loyal audience.” — Jason Fried, author of ReWork