Almost Success - The "Mixed Feelings" Thread

[gower21]

(Pregnancy, baby who is now 10weeks old, + 3 year old, + 21month old, got married....yadda yadda)

Congratulations!

Ditto! Congratulations!!

[morshana]

(Pregnancy, baby who is now 10weeks old, + 3 year old, + 21month old, got married....yadda yadda)

Congratulations!

Ditto! Congratulations!!

Congratulations!

[bobsandiego]

This is going to come out of the blue as I have been MIA for a while (Pregnancy, baby who is now 10weeks old, + 3 year old, + 21month old, got married....yadda yadda) but really want to get back into it.... Got a nice personal rejection from Shimmer the other day. The story made it to the Board but they eventually decided it didn't come together as fully as they would have liked and they also added that they would love to see more of my stories and looked forward to hearing from me soon....

Alas! I have no more stories suitable for them! Must write more but my brain feels fuddled at the moment!

Congrats!

[morshana]

Don't know where to post this, but I think I just got a personal rejection from Fantasy & Science Fiction. Sort of. Anyway, I was expecting a form reject, so Woo-hoo!

"Many thanks for sending TITLE OF MY STORY my way, but I'm going to pass on this one. My first reader liked this story but I'm afraid the concept for this tale just didn't grab me, alas." etc

[Rebecca Birch]

Don't know where to post this, but I think I just got a personal rejection from Fantasy & Science Fiction. Sort of. Anyway, I was expecting a form reject, so Woo-hoo!

"Many thanks for sending TITLE OF MY STORY my way, but I'm going to pass on this one. My first reader liked this story but I'm afraid the concept for this tale just didn't grab me, alas." etc

You got a rejection from GORDON? Woo! That's still on my bucket list.

[morshana]

Yep! From Gordon!

I'm happy. Happiest I've felt about a rejection.

[LDWriter2]

Yep! From Gordon!

I'm happy. Happiest I've felt about a rejection.

Wow, keep it where you can get to it easily.

[Kary English]

Don't know where to post this, but I think I just got a personal rejection from Fantasy & Science Fiction. Sort of. Anyway, I was expecting a form reject, so Woo-hoo!

"Many thanks for sending TITLE OF MY STORY my way, but I'm going to pass on this one. My first reader liked this story but I'm afraid the concept for this tale just didn't grab me, alas." etc

You got a rejection from GORDON? Woo! That's still on my bucket list.

Holy wowzers, Batman! A personal from Commissioner Gordon.

Well done!

[E.CaimanSands]

Don't know where to post this, but I think I just got a personal rejection from Fantasy & Science Fiction. Sort of. Anyway, I was expecting a form reject, so Woo-hoo!

"Many thanks for sending TITLE OF MY STORY my way, but I'm going to pass on this one. My first reader liked this story but I'm afraid the concept for this tale just didn't grab me, alas." etc

You got a rejection from GORDON? Woo! That's still on my bucket list.

I would frame it.

Very nice!

[morshana]

Thanks! Still happy today.

And thank you to Rebecca for October Madness and thank you to LDWriter for that image prompt. Now to figure out where to send that story next...

[vanaaron]

Good show! May I ask when you submitted the piece? Gordon has been holding onto one of mine for four months now, and I'm curious if others are experiencing a wait like that.

[morshana]

Good show! May I ask when you submitted the piece? Gordon has been holding onto one of mine for four months now, and I'm curious if others are experiencing a wait like that.

They had it 10 days. Maybe you should query?

[vanaaron]

I queried last month, and he said it's still under consideration . . .

[morshana]

I queried last month, and he said it's still under consideration . . .

That's great! Good luck!

[austinDm]

Nice, Jeanette!

And Vanaaron, if they're still holding it, your story must be under SERIOUS consideration.

[morshana]

Nice, Jeanette!

And Vanaaron, if they're still holding it, your story must be under SERIOUS consideration.

Thanks, Austin.

And I agree - serious consideration.

[vanaaron]

I suppose "serious consideration" is good, but it will just be that much more disappointing if it finally gets rejected.

[Delli]

Thanks for the congratulations everyone! It has been a (very) busy year - that's for sure!

Just got a personal rejection from Flash Fiction Online as my story reached the final stage with them but wasn't quite good enough for publication (with them). Wow! They have a lot of readers and a lot of comments in their personal rejections!

[LDWriter2]

This isn't an "almost success" and I may end up commenting about it on the rant thread also. At least it is a differently worded rejection.



My latest rejection from F&SF, seems like they have a new Assistant, one Scott Polhemus. Or is he an old one, seems like I've seen the name somewhere?

Anyway he said, "I'm afraid the story didn't pan out as I had hoped". Don't know if he meant the writing or plot and we shall see in future rejections if this is his normal line.

Speaking of that I need to get a story ready to send them. Should have done it this past weekend to go out today but forgot.

[trdixon]

I just got one from him as well and it wasn't the same wording. He actually gave me a lot of good feedback and suggestions on what I could do.

[gower21]

Thanks for the congratulations everyone! It has been a (very) busy year - that's for sure!

Just got a personal rejection from Flash Fiction Online as my story reached the final stage with them but wasn't quite good enough for publication (with them). Wow! They have a lot of readers and a lot of comments in their personal rejections!

I know! I love there personals because they are so completely thorough and the suggestions are so spot on. Defiantly a gem when you get one. I keep scrolling and thinking "Wow. There's more?" Each editor had several paragraphs of critique. And they do the whole choosing process blind (like WOTF), so it feels good to get that far up in their system.

[austinDm]

I made it to the second round at Shimmer, but got a rejection today. They liked my writing, but wanted a "bigger" story. It's the furthest I've ever gotten there, so I'm happy for that, but still a little disappointed. Oh well, on to the next market.

[vanaaron]

I suppose "serious consideration" is good, but it will just be that much more disappointing if it finally gets rejected.

And sure enough, Gordon rejected the story after a four-month wait. He did send a very complimentary note, which would have thrilled me a year ago. But that's why this process of breaking into the market is so painful -- every success raises your standards, so you're continually being disappointed.

[Martin L. Shoemaker]

I suppose "serious consideration" is good, but it will just be that much more disappointing if it finally gets rejected.

And sure enough, Gordon rejected the story after a four-month wait. He did send a very complimentary note, which would have thrilled me a year ago. But that's why this process of breaking into the market is so painful -- every success raises your standards, so you're continually being disappointed.

As Dean teaches, there is no "I finally made it!" in this business. There is only "I made it this time," "I didn't make it this time," and "I learned something this time." if you get enough of the third one, you start getting more of the first one. But you'll still get plenty of the second one.

[ThomasKCarpenter]

I suppose "serious consideration" is good, but it will just be that much more disappointing if it finally gets rejected.

And sure enough, Gordon rejected the story after a four-month wait. He did send a very complimentary note, which would have thrilled me a year ago. But that's why this process of breaking into the market is so painful -- every success raises your standards, so you're continually being disappointed.

As Dean teaches, there is no "I finally made it!" in this business. There is only "I made it this time," "I didn't make it this time," and "I learned something this time." if you get enough of the third one, you start getting more of the first one. But you'll still get plenty of the second one.

Problems and heartaches never go away, you just trade up for bigger versions.

[dantzel]

Woot! Celina Summers sent my zombie story on to the second round at Penumbra!

[morshana]

Congrats Dantzel! And good luck!

[LDWriter2]

Woot! Celina Summers sent my zombie story on to the second round at Penumbra!

Hey, hey hey.


Sounds good. You did something right.


I was just thinking no one has gotten one of these--near misses--for a while.

[jeeohn]

Got a personal rejection from Neon. "Well written but it didn't quite grab me."

Seems to be a reoccurring trend with me.

[austinDm]

Got my second personal from FFO.

The only problem with getting so many comments with a rejection is that now I need to decide whether it's worth the effort of revising or if I should trust the initial story and just send it out again.