This morning, I came home from a bracing, bushland walk through the local butterfly reserve to find a rejection in my inbox – my third this year.
It was a very nice rejection though – they’d obviously read my story, gave the reasons why it didn’t suit their magazine, and said I should feel free to submit again. I always want to thank editors who take the time to personally respond, but that, of course, is verboten.
Besides, three rejections puts me well on the road to realizing my goal of getting 100 rejections in 2010, which is, I’ll admit, a blatant rip off of one of Christopher Green’s New Year resolutions. I’m also inspired by Catherine J Gardner’s 2009 statistics - and yes, I was checking them both out because they also have stories in ‘The Tangled Bank’.
Last year, I reaped a paltry 45 rejections and scored 7 acceptances. Catherine achieved 3 times that number of rejections and made 21 sales.
I see a pattern emerging. I also detect a butterfly theme...
It was a very nice rejection though – they’d obviously read my story, gave the reasons why it didn’t suit their magazine, and said I should feel free to submit again. I always want to thank editors who take the time to personally respond, but that, of course, is verboten.
Besides, three rejections puts me well on the road to realizing my goal of getting 100 rejections in 2010, which is, I’ll admit, a blatant rip off of one of Christopher Green’s New Year resolutions. I’m also inspired by Catherine J Gardner’s 2009 statistics - and yes, I was checking them both out because they also have stories in ‘The Tangled Bank’.
Last year, I reaped a paltry 45 rejections and scored 7 acceptances. Catherine achieved 3 times that number of rejections and made 21 sales.
I see a pattern emerging. I also detect a butterfly theme...
