While I wait and pray for data recovery—as I mentioned last week, The Space between Atoms was lost with the crash of a WD Elements drive—I didn’t want to neglect this poor blog. Since I’m a struggling writer, I’ll note how editors like to kick you while you’re down.
Even while I’m waiting to see if my files can be recovered, I received my weekly quota of rejection letters. A really good story submitted to a carefully chosen journal, and a collection of stories submitted to a contest. They all say the same thing—your work is good but there’s so much out there that’s so much better, in my opinion.
You see, I know editors, and it’s those last three words that are the killer: in my opinion. Editors have likes and dislikes. They’re the gatekeepers for publication success.
Early in my fiction publishing attempts, I kept submitting to the same publication—Danse Macabre—because I seemed to have found a sympathetic editor. This relationship continued until one of my stories was relegated to an offshoot publication and not to the main magazine. I then started looking elsewhere.
I found another enthusiastic editor at Jersey Devil Press. When health issues led him to hand over the editorial role, I could never get on his replacement’s good side. You see, an editor needs to get you.
From that point on I tried a more scatter-shot approach. A story here and a story there—with always rejections and a few award nominations. The story collection came about because I had many of my best stories never accepted anywhere. Of course, the collection wasn’t accepted either.
I don’t give up. I recently saw a meme from another writer showing all the stuff beneath the surface of a talent writer, like the biggest part of an iceberg. There was a lot of wisdom in it. Writers are great self-doubters, if they’re any good at it. It’s just that editors are also especially good at reinforcing that doubt. Don’t pay them any mind. Keep on submitting.
Comments
Post a Comment