Keeping on keeping on.
February 24, 2007
I received word this week that something I submitted will be published in The Boston Literary Magazine. I’ll post the link once it’s up.
I sent my work there as part of a new rule I have: for every rejection, I must tweak my work (if needed…usually it doesn’t…I’ve only sent the piece if I feel it’s as close to perfect as possible). Then, I make myself send the piece out to two more places.
The reason I do this is two-fold: it keeps your energy from faltering and from staying poised on the rejection. And two, I’m learning more and more that rejections are sometimes about opinions or about unsuitability for a market: your work will get published if it is good and you keep sending it out for review. It will eventually resonate with someone and voila! … you get an acceptance.
Don’t you love how I make it sound easy? It may not be, but the pretense keeps me going.
Perhaps this is a good rule. Better than my “instinctive” one in the past: If something I submitted got rejected, there’s probably something wrong with it, so I give up.
Very positive advice, thank you.
Thank you, James! Don’t give up…keep sending your stuff out!
mj
It is comforting to know that last year a newspaper submitted two chapters of one of the Australian Nobel laureate, Patrick White’s most famous novels. Not only were they not recognised but they were also rejected…
Oscarandre: YES! Comforting, and a bit scary. It makes one think that all the stars must be perfectly aligned to get something published: right place, right time, right submitor, right submitee (market), right story, right editor, etc., etc. It’s all a bit daunting…but when it comes together…bliss!
Hi Mary
Congratulations on getting accepted at BLM, and thanks for the note on my blog!
“It is comforting to know that last year a newspaper submitted two chapters of one of the Australian Nobel laureate, Patrick White’s most famous novels. Not only were they not recognised but they were also rejected…”
(Oscarandre’s comment)
Saw a funny variant of the “pearls before swine” quote today that would go well with this:
http://worldsowide.blogspot.com/2007/03/on-subject-of-pearls-before-swine.html