Discussion: Q3 Volume 38

Posted by: @rschibler

No News is No News. And with the gala at the end of October, this year is more of a wild card than usual. Butt in chair, hands on keyboard, ignore all else!

Brutal, just brutal  

You can't make me ignore all else. I am going to curl up in my blankie fort with my cocoa and speculate about results. But I'll bring a notebook and pen with me!

Fair! I was talking to myself more than anyone else. I can’t believe we don’t have a twitch emoji! 

It's probably going to be a long haul, but that makes the following even more necessary:

*sets up pillow/blanket fort, a table with coffee and hot chocolate, and a secret-but-not-really table with supplies for people who like their coffee or hot chocolate a little Irish*

@disgruntledpeony That's so nice of you! As it gets closer to the Q4 deadline it's hard not to at least wonder when results will come in... I'm doing my best to stay busy and work on writing. 

*crawls into the fort*

Haha. I wrote my Q3, over 12K words, in a few days. Not a bad story, but a little rambling and not a polished effort, so I have low expectations and no twitching. But I've since rewritten it, and plan to put in the new and improved version for Q4. New opening, new ending, much tighter, and a new title. May be a complete fail, but I've put too much effort into it not to give it another shot. 

Good luck, all! I'm sure some forumites will be in the running for Q3, as always. 

Posted by: @craydimensional

@wulfmoon Any idea how late the results will be in? Beginning Oct?

I wouldn't look for results until right around the gala or after. So go write your winning Q4 and fogetaboudit.

You guys are all making me want to build a fort now too while I wait. I'm not really too concerned, but still...you want to know just to get the jitters out, am I right?

Posted by: @earthkeeper78

You guys are all making me want to build a fort now too while I wait. I'm not really too concerned, but still...you want to know just to get the jitters out, am I right?

The fort is infinitely large--you're absolutely welcome to join whenever.  

Can I join you in the fort? I’ll bring some fruit. (I would bring cookies, but I am trying to cut down on sweets.)

I like fruit! I can have some as I edit, edit, edit, and hold my breath (but don't know I'm holding it) for results that are a long time away. The fort knows no boundaries on what it can contain :). Jitters AND writing AND editing AND contemplating AND percolating (coffee and ideas) AND snacking AND AND AND.

Posted by: @wulfmoon

I wouldn't look for results until right around the gala or after. So go write your winning Q4 and fogetaboudit.

 

"Fogetaboudit" sounds right to me. If WotF were the only thing I was doing, then perhaps I'd be biting my nails. But no, I just keep on writing and I keep on submitting to the mags. My crit groups like my stories and keep encouraging me. Now, if I can only get that attitude somehow infused into the editors.

Got two more rejections today. Hey, perhaps there can be an award for who has the most rejections?

Posted by: @ehonour

Got two more rejections today. Hey, perhaps there can be an award for who has the most rejections?

Not sure how may you've got (perhaps it wouldn't be helpful to compare).

But I was listening to Ace Antonio Hall on the WotF podcast. He got dozens and dozens of rejections, before publishing multiple short stories. Others I'm told, have several hundred rejections...

In any case, let's keep polishing and keep sending them out!

@craydimensional 

I'm with ya, Cray. If I'm not careful I can oversnack while writing. had to take to chewing gum for a bit, just to stop the nasty snackies.

Posted by: @scott_m_sands

let's keep polishing and keep sending them out!

Hear! Hear!

@ehonour the local writing guild gives an award for the writer with the most annual rejections. I aim for 100 a year. 

That being said, there’s also nothing wrong with subbing less frequently or taking a break between subs. Everyone is different and I don’t want anyone to feel pressured into a frenetic pace of subbing if that isn’t how you work. We’re all on our own paths. 

@ehonour Ken Liu was invited to submit to an anthology on stories receiving the most rejections. His story beat all the others in most rejections earned by a landslide. Ken Liu! 

Posted by: @rschibler

@ehonour the local writing guild gives an award for the writer with the most annual rejections. I aim for 100 a year. 

Ah, good. You and Wulf give me encouragement. I'm nowhere near 100 per year yet.

Posted by: @craydimensional

Can I join you in the fort? I’ll bring some fruit. (I would bring cookies, but I am trying to cut down on sweets.)

Of course! I'm trying to cut back on sweets myself, lately.

As per Dave's class last night, Q3 results are delayed due to an overscheduled Dave most likely due to the upcoming October Gala. So the fort should include nice quiet rooms for writing fresh stories, a nice big theater to show movies for inspiration, a huge library filled with great works of fantasy and science fiction also for inspiration, and a room filled with inspirational pictures, writing prompts, and stirring music. It's going to be a long wait folks, but it's nice to wait with friends. And as I said previously, I much prefer the not knowing over getting a rejection email... In the not knowing I can imagine all possibilities!

Posted by: @physa

As per Dave's class last night, Q3 results are delayed due to an overscheduled Dave most likely due to the upcoming October Gala. So the fort should include nice quiet rooms for writing fresh stories, a nice big theater to show movies for inspiration, a huge library filled with great works of fantasy and science fiction also for inspiration, and a room filled with inspirational pictures, writing prompts, and stirring music. It's going to be a long wait folks, but it's nice to wait with friends. And as I said previously, I much prefer the not knowing over getting a rejection email... In the not knowing I can imagine all possibilities!

Maybe he is wanting to catch us by surprise. We can only hope.

@wulfmoon Do you have any idea how many rejections that was?

@storysinger No, don’t expect results until just before the gala, or likely after. 

@alexvss I did write it down from his interview at Norwescon. Dare you to dig through all my notebooks in my office to find it. ?

BTW, Ken had quit writing after winning WotF. Got discouraged by so many rejections after. Quit for six years, as I recall. And then the editor of this crazy antho contacted him, seeking to publish the most rejected stories. That lit a fire for him, and the rest is history. Believe it, or not. ?

Posted by: @alexvss

@wulfmoon Do you have any idea how many rejections that was?

Hey @alexvss,

I found this interview that Clarkesworld Science Fiction and Fantasy Magazine did with Liu, where he talks about that anthology, and how he did quit submitting after two professional sales and went off to become a lawyer insted.

Here's the link to that article. It's really lovely.
https://clarkesworldmagazine.com/liu_interview_2020/

In the interview, Liu mentions the name of the anthology he submitted to, which I found online (it appears to have been posted by the editors themselves), that has links to all the stories, Liu's included, and the appendixes at the end where the editor gives some numbers.

Link to all the stories and appendixes:
http://thoughtcrime.crummy.com/2009/

Link to the appendix A with the general stats:
http://thoughtcrime.crummy.com/2009/AppendixA.html

The stats say only one story got NINE rejections. So, if Liu says his beat out all the other stories in number of rejections, then we could surmise that Liu's story was the one with nine rejections.

To that I say, my story that just sold to a pro-paying market at 8 cents a word was out on it's 16th submission and had earned me a Silver HM in the WotF contest from Dave.
I DID NOT update or tweak it from it's original submission to WotF. It was sent there first, earned me a Silver HM, and then I continued to send it out 15 more times.

I have a writing friend who won a name-worthy, big writing contest with a story that had been rejected from the top pro-paying markets FIFTEEN times. That author got paid pro-rates for that story, a gorgeous trophy, and additional prizes.

Also, in Kevin J. Anderson's new, little book: Slushpile Memories: How NOT to get rejected. He tells an anecdote about the very first writing award he ever won--it was for "The Writer with No Future" because he was able to produce by weight more rejection slips than any other writer at that convention. He goes on to say he took that trophy home as a badge of honor, more determined than ever to not give up.

I think the message from Liu and KJA are clear. Keep sending out your stories, keep writing new words, and never give up, never surrender. ♥

~A.

@wulfmoon 

Stories like Ken's help keep me motivated when the rejection emails arrive. Keep at it, work on your craft, and don't stop believing that you will succeed eventually. The only thing that will definitely stop you succeeding is if you stop writing. So, write, write, write, submit, submit, submit.

Oh, and talking about submitting...is there a deadline approaching or something ?

Posted by: @physa

As per Dave's class last night, Q3 results are delayed due to an overscheduled Dave most likely due to the upcoming October Gala. So the fort should include nice quiet rooms for writing fresh stories, a nice big theater to show movies for inspiration, a huge library filled with great works of fantasy and science fiction also for inspiration, and a room filled with inspirational pictures, writing prompts, and stirring music. It's going to be a long wait folks, but it's nice to wait with friends. And as I said previously, I much prefer the not knowing over getting a rejection email... In the not knowing I can imagine all possibilities!

Will need some room for iPad, and Computer to write 1ST QTR v39. I just submitted 4th QTR v38.

@aliciacay Wow, some scavenging you did there! Thanks!

Liu's experience with rejection reminded of what Mary Robinette Kowal says at the end of Writing Excuses' episode on short-story markets (give it a listen, it's super short). She talks about how writers get overconfident after selling two stories: they think that they had it all figured out. But they just stop selling because they're too focused on the craft, rather than putting their hearts in the stories. Liu's interview sounded just like that.