Faster than a speeding “no thanks”
Wow. Clarkesworld took less than 24 hours to reject “Secondhand Rush”. It usually takes editors several weeks to decide I suck.
So what now? I printed it out, stuffed it in an envelope, and it’s off to Q3 of WotF.
Why am I bombarding WotF with my stuff? This will make one per quarter for this contest year. (Another will surely be ready by the fourth quarter.) Well, there’s nothing quite like an “honorable mention” rather than a form rejection. That’s not to say I’m guaranteed at least an HM (if I were, I probably wouldn’t be satisfied with one), but it gives me the “at least it wasn’t a flat rejection” to pad my ego. The HM also becomes a tidbit to toss on the cover letter, as if to say “relax, editor, this isn’t pure junk”.
WotF also limits my competition tonon-pros. Even at small mags you have to compete with pros and “friends of the magazine” who repeatedly have their work printed there. I feel like I get a tiny bit of favoritism from Sams Dot Publishing because I’ve been associating with them for so long (since it was ProMartian under the late James Baker, no relation). Maybe my quality just fits their needs, but better than half my published stories have been there. So entering into a blind competition with other semi-pros is a good place for me right now. Can I win? Eventually, I bet I can. (If Jordan can do it… 😛 ) Or maybe I’ll go pro before that happens. Either way, I think WotF is a good market for a writer in my position to pursue.
-Oso
Scott W. Baker: Chaos out of Chaos 
Yeah, I said they were fast. Maybe someday I’ll find out how fast their acceptances are 🙂
Good luck with WotF. Maybe one of these days I’ll enter that contest. Do they take a while to get back to people?
Nobu,
It’s not an overnight process, but it’s reasonable. My first quarter honorable mention took 102 days to receive, but a lot of that was waiting to the end of the quarter since I sent it in early. I sent my second quarter entry in pretty late, so I’ll probably hear pretty late. Of course the semifinalists and finalists have to wait longer than HMs and rejections. (The rejection I received a couple years back seemed quite fast.)
Generally, I’d call it comparable to an average prozine with better feedback than a form rejection.
Thanks for the info. I’ll have to look over my stuff and see what might work. Seems like there’s really nothing to lose 🙂
I’m feeling the same on WoTF. With a chance every quarter, it’s at least motivation. I need a deadline.