Almost Success - The "Mixed Feelings" Thread

BUT Lightspeed submissions open tomorrow.

I thought it got pushed back again. June 20th or something.

Well, just got a form rejection BUT Lightspeed submissions open tomorrow.

Me too.

Now we know that being "Under Review" for long periods of time at Asimov's likely means nothing significant.

BUT Lightspeed submissions open tomorrow.

I thought it got pushed back again. June 20th or something.

I didn't see the date but yeah they are pushed back again.

What they find some stories they forgot about? (Spoken with a New York Jewish accent)

I'm in the same camp. We must have submitted at the same time. Looks like she rejected a bunch of 60 day stories but left ours. Eventually we'll scrap together the madness to the method

Like I said, Sheila's messing with us. This is nothing but pure torture.

Asimov's had another round of rejections today according to the submission grinder. I had to check my e-mail after seeing that... still in it though.

Oh, oh I need to change my E-mail address there. After I check my status.

I just got a "nicely done but not quite right for her, looking forward to the next one" rejection from Shiela at Asimov's!

I just got a "nicely done but not quite right for her, looking forward to the next one" rejection from Shiela at Asimov's!

Nice!

I just got a "nicely done but not quite right for her, looking forward to the next one" rejection from Shiela at Asimov's!

That's awesome! With all these personals you've been receiving, at least you know you're close!

Thanks! I was really excited, especially since it was such a long story, at 14k words.

Racking up the personals, Jeanette! Nice work!

I just got a "nicely done but not quite right for her, looking forward to the next one" rejection from Shiela at Asimov's!

Congrats! I've never gotten a personal rejection from Sheila, let alone heard of anyone else getting one.

Way to go, Jeanette. I have yet to break that barrier with Asimov's. Now that they know your name, you better send them another right away! Good luck with your next submission.
Preston Dennett
(HM x 4)

I just got a "nicely done but not quite right for her, looking forward to the next one" rejection from Shiela at Asimov's!

Grats! I got something like that once, but it was so long ago now I think Sheila has forgotten.

I just got a "nicely done but not quite right for her, looking forward to the next one" rejection from Shiela at Asimov's!

Very Nice, well done.

I just got a "nicely done but not quite right for her, looking forward to the next one" rejection from Shiela at Asimov's!

Congrats! I've never gotten a personal rejection from Sheila, let alone heard of anyone else getting one.

Me too

Now I know she does give out personal comments.

Which doesn't help my state of mind though.

No worries. It wasn't a personal rejection from Sheila, but rather the second-tier rejection. Maybe that's as personal as she gets? I have no idea. I recorded it as a personal on Submission Grinder because there are only two options there and I want to keep track if/what stories did better and where, at a glance, from the Stat page.

Great job, Elinor!

And regarding others, I think Dantzel got a personal or a second-tier rejection from Asimov's.

I'm just thrilled to have gotten a second-tier!

No worries. It wasn't a personal rejection from Sheila, but rather the second-tier rejection. Maybe that's as personal as she gets? I have no idea. I recorded it as a personal on Submission Grinder because there are only two options there and I want to keep track if/what stories did better and where, at a glance, from the Stat page.

I've just trawled through my old rejection emails. I star the best ones so it didn't actually take too long to find the relevant one. Anyway, Sheila said: "The story is nicely done, but I’m afraid it's not quite right for me. I look forward to your next one, though." In other words, pretty much the same as she said to you, so not really personal, but I was encouraged at the time. Depressingly this was two and a half years ago though and on one of my earliest stories, so I'm beginning to get mighty antsy to get another one, lol.

No worries. It wasn't a personal rejection from Sheila, but rather the second-tier rejection. Maybe that's as personal as she gets? I have no idea. I recorded it as a personal on Submission Grinder because there are only two options there and I want to keep track if/what stories did better and where, at a glance, from the Stat page.

I've just trawled through my old rejection emails. I star the best ones so it didn't actually take too long to find the relevant one. Anyway, Sheila said: "The story is nicely done, but I’m afraid it's not quite right for me. I look forward to your next one, though." In other words, pretty much the same as she said to you, so not really personal, but I was encouraged at the time. Depressingly this was two and a half years ago though and on one of my earliest stories, so I'm beginning to get mighty antsy to get another one, lol.

Yep. Second-tier rejection. I got a very similar one from JJA at Lightspeed last year.

No worries. It wasn't a personal rejection from Sheila, but rather the second-tier rejection. Maybe that's as personal as she gets? I have no idea. I recorded it as a personal on Submission Grinder because there are only two options there and I want to keep track if/what stories did better and where, at a glance, from the Stat page.

I've just trawled through my old rejection emails. I star the best ones so it didn't actually take too long to find the relevant one. Anyway, Sheila said: "The story is nicely done, but I’m afraid it's not quite right for me. I look forward to your next one, though." In other words, pretty much the same as she said to you, so not really personal, but I was encouraged at the time. Depressingly this was two and a half years ago though and on one of my earliest stories, so I'm beginning to get mighty antsy to get another one, lol.

Yep. Second-tier rejection. I got a very similar one from JJA at Lightspeed last year.

Ditto. Although it wasn't last year!

Like I said, Sheila's messing with us. This is nothing but pure torture.

Yesterday mine was still "received" but I today I was thinking that not only Asimov's But BCS and DailySF--both are rather overdue-and F&SF are taking their time this time around.

Then it hit me---OOPS, BCS and Daily can't respond to me. So I just spent about an hour trying to figure out how to change my E-mail address. It was easy on Daily SF even though I couldn't find a "contact us" link to ask if they had tried to send an E-mail to the old address. I did send an E-mail to BCS explaining the change.

Actually, the same is true for Asimov's and Analog-I tried to change the E-mail address-but there I can check the status and since more than likely I won't be receiving a personal response from either Sheila or the new guy at Analog it probably won't matter.

F&SF still uses snail mail so they are Okay-most probably I will be receiving a rejection--without comments--Monday or Tuesday.

I was reminded of DailySF while looking for the last story I sent to IGMS. I was sure I did but I can't find one not crossed out. Maybe I either didn't mark it down or I planned to send a story but never got to it. I'll send one tonight or tomorrow.

Got a response from BCS, they will change my E-mail address on my story. By what they said and the fact that I haven't received a rejection yet, I think they haven't read it yet. Which means they are a bit late from their stated turn around.

Need to check Analog and Asimov's later tonight.

Got a response from BCS, they will change my E-mail address on my story. By what they said and the fact that I haven't received a rejection yet, I think they haven't read it yet. Which means they are a bit late from their stated turn around.

Need to check Analog and Asimov's later tonight.

Analog will be FOREVER. I guess I shouldn't complain. They allow multiple submissions so I'll just submit some more to them. I'm learning a lot about writing in the process of using Critters.org and I think there are grammar problems in my current submission (a nuance of my dialogue was wrong).

You think Sheila's playing games with us at Asimov's I think Joni is at WotF.

Just received the latest headed your WotF entry, starts with "your story has been'. Isn't that how the rejections start?

But this one was to say I am entered in Q2.

Came back for two reasons.

RE: the last post...of course if I had read the whole header I would have known which quarter the E-mail was for.

But I also received a rejection from F&SF. And I am happy--well, maybe--to say that Scott does do personal comments.

The story is cliche-ish, one I wrote months ago even at the time I knew it was over used but it was an idea. So I decided it was time to revise and so I used what I had learned since--decided to try to make it the best written cliche story around. I added more of the five human senses, a try-fail cycle and emotional angst. Maybe it came close to my goal. Maybe.

The MC is named Tony

"I doubt Tony expected the request to defeat an evil wizard after a fine bacon breakfast."

My first response was a sort of, kinda of chuckle. Second was Well, yeah... maybe I didn't make that clear.

A thought, LD:

Not that the five senses and the try-fail cycles aren't good, but not every editor wants the same thing, so if the story just doesn't want a certain element, don't feel obligated to put it in. I have a few stories that, based on story structure/style/etc will never* have a chance of winning WOTF, but would do well at Daily Science Fiction or Analog.

* I recognize that 'never' is a strong word, but for certain stories, it's just true.

A thought, LD:

Not that the five senses and the try-fail cycles aren't good, but not every editor wants the same thing, so if the story just doesn't want a certain element, don't feel obligated to put it in. I have a few stories that, based on story structure/style/etc will never* have a chance of winning WOTF, but would do well at Daily Science Fiction or Analog.

* I recognize that 'never' is a strong word, but for certain stories, it's just true.

The five senses seem to be spread around. The writers who use them right see a jump in sells. And there is a list of points for writing fiction--any type--one point is try fail cycles. Doesn't have to be three or four like David seems to want but according to this list there needs to be one. Ugh, right now I forget the name of the list. I will get it.

True not every editor wants the same as every other one but there does seem to be characteristics most want. Of course I can't prove any of this by my sells but nothing helps with that so I have to go by what works for other writers.

Got a response from BCS, they will change my E-mail address on my story. By what they said and the fact that I haven't received a rejection yet, I think they haven't read it yet. Which means they are a bit late from their stated turn around.

Need to check Analog and Asimov's later tonight.

Well, they did change the address received a rejection tonight sent to the correct address.

Now we will see about DailySF.

Typically, I'm not a fan of late night rejections just before I go to bed or when I wake up and have one waiting for me, like this morning, however:

I received a very personal rejection from Tor.com, indicating I was so close, and that it was hard for them to imagine another magazine not taking the story.

Anyway, rejection is rejection, but it's amazing when one like this actually motivates.

I'd say that's a good sign, Alistair!

Typically, I'm not a fan of late night rejections just before I go to bed or when I wake up and have one waiting for me, like this morning, however:

I received a very personal rejection from Tor.com, indicating I was so close, and that it was hard for them to imagine another magazine not taking the story.

Anyway, rejection is rejection, but it's amazing when one like this actually motivates.

Very nice!