Almost, but Not Quite
Got a bummer of a rejection today. There aren’t a lot of markets out there for short stories that reach 8K, but some of the ones that will accept stories that long are really prestigious ones — the kind of markets I’ve been trying to crack for a while now.
I have a story I wrote last year that is about 8K, and I think it’s a pretty solid 8K. If I have to cut it down to 5K to try to submit it somewhere, I think it will weaken the story.
I got a rejection note today from the latest place that I sent the story, and it was one of those almost rejections. They said that the story was “well received” by the editors, but after “further thought” they decided not to accepted it.
Man! Now, granted, this is way better than a form rejection. They actually at least liked the story and considered it, as opposed to rejecting out of hand.
However, it’s more frustrating, too — they actually liked it, but rejected it anyway. I was almost in, but didn’t quite make it. And there wasn’t really any explanation as to why. It’s that subjectivity thing again!
We’ll have to see what I can do with my 8K monster story. I need to do some market crawling and find somewhere else to submit it. And I think I definitely need to send something else to this particular market. Maybe the next story I send them will be the one!
Hey, a girl can hope! 
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That is one very nice rejection - they truly could not use your story at this time (maybe they just bought another with a similar theme, or the subject matter was perfect for last month, or any of a number of other reasons that have nothing to do with how well-recieved that story was!)but they took the time to send you a nice note. Woohoo! Nice going!
The really good thing about that kind of rejection is that when your next story goes to that market, they already have a good feeling about your work because they spent some time agonizing over your last story.
So get in there with the next one!
As for you 8K story - how about a pruning session? I’ll bet you can take out 3K words and till have a very strong and crisp story…!
Kate
Erin, Thanks for the nice comments on my blog. I left one for you over there, but wanted to share it with you.
Erin,
I can see maybe with your other great news and impending JOY you might want to consider staying at home a while.
It’s really an individual call as to what works for you.
As for me, I AM home and believe me I waste a lot of time. My time is a sweet luxury that I probably abuse. Part of that is I’m older and feel as if I need to live under a gentler regime, so I’m not too hard on myself. I kind of go with the flow.
Often, however, I do admonish myself for laziness. I have NO excuses not to sit down every day and work on the novel. Yes, things come up that must be tended to (old dog, old husband, old pleasures, old chores), but they will always be around.
Distractions exist and a writer must learn to deal.
You have strong self-discipline and I think whatever is thrown at you, you will work around. If you were to stay home, there’s no doubt in my mind that you would spend that time wisely. You’ve established yourself as a short story writer, so the novel is the same, just more length broken down in smaller pieces.
Ahhh, good. I wrote that last part for me too. Think of those chapters as 1000-2000 words stories!!!
Thanks, Erin, for perking up my brain today
Gay — I said this on your blog, but I like that idea of thinking of novel chapters as smaller stories. I’ll have to try that!
Kate — That is definitely true. Time to focus on the positive. Thanks for commenting!