Downs that should be Ups (or vice-versa)

Rejections.  😦

No one likes rejections.  I don’t.  I got four in three days week.  It always sucks to get a rejection from F&SF and IGMS on the same day.  I wasn’t really in the mood to blog about it then.  The other two were also pro markets.  Oh, how it burns.

There’s no shame in being rejected by pro markets.  Pros get rejected by pro markets all the time.  But my last sale was a long time ago.  Long.  Submitted in September kind of long.  That’s where the rejections hurt most.

But I can also look at these rejections and smile because they are different than I used to get.  My F&SF rejection came straight from the editor rather than an assistant editor, suggesting it made it past someone.  My IGMS rejection was personalized.  The other two…not so much, but that’s okay.  A good number of my rejections explain themselves now.  This is a good development.

I’m sure I’ve blogged on this topic before.  This is kind of my public pep talk to myself.  I have seven stories out right now and odds are that none of those will come back acceptances.  But some of those stories will sell.  I have no doubt.  I bet I’ll find homes for all of them, eventually.  Low pay homes for some, deeply modified forms for others, but homes where people will have the chance to read them.

In unrelated news, congratulations to my friends and visitors that are off to Clarion or Clarion West this summer. (Yay Annie/izanobu!)  Not sure who else I know that might have made it.  Drop me a comment if that’s you.  Good luck to those still applying for Odyssey.  For those who applied and are not attending, I know the pang of those rejections, too.  Only the last rejection you ever receive will be final.  Keep writing, keep sending and you’ll always be a writer.