Another six months gone by, and sadly not a lot has happened with my glorious writing career. A lot of writing, a lot of knocking on doors–figuratively speaking–but not much…positive progress.
Not that I haven’t had some fun and done some new stuff. I recently completed an online workshop presented by the L. Ron Hubbard Writers of the Future contest. It featured essays written by Hubbard himself, video presentations by veteran writers Orson Scott Card, Dave Farland, and Tim Powers, and practical writing assignments. The workshop gives a lot of useful information for anyone interested in improving their writing, and I recommend it, whether you’re just starting out or if you have a bit of experience. It is also free, so you can’t beat that.
I’ve been peddling my short fiction to a lot of pulications, both online and print. No takers, but I did manage to get pretty far in some of the submission processes. The e-zine Deep Magic, which proports itself as one of the leading “clean” fantasy and sci-fi publications out there, took one of my stories, Ship of Glass, to the very last stage of consideration…before deciding to pass on it. It was a bummer. I love that publication, and one of its editors and founders is Jeff Wheeler, my favorite fantasy author. I managed to dry my tears with the help of some good advice from the editor’s board, which I will apply to the story before submitting it elsewhere. Of course I’ll sumbit it elsewhere, and I’ll submit to Deep Magic again. And again. And again. Real writers don’t take rejection sitting down…unless they’re sitting at their computers preparing their next submission.
Just a word of advice about rejections, from a writer who gets them a lot. I mean…a lot. Whatever you do, don’t fire off some poorly-thought-out, vitriolic response. On the practical side, that won’t get you published any quicker, and it might even have the opposite effect. Editors do talk to other editors. More importantly, these people are doing their jobs. They’re running businesses. They have to do what their training and experience tells them is best for their business. The least you can do is thank them for their time and accept that rejection doesn’t mean they’re stupid or that they think you’re no good. Then you go and get back to work. Write something.
You’re a writer; it’s what you do.
Or, if you’re not a writer, read something. Check out a few of my older posts, and you’ll find links to awesome, exciting stories that I did manage to get published or posted. Please. And enjoy.