The piece I recently submitted to The Rose and Thorn was just accepted. This was a story that I wrote and re-wrote, and re-re-wrote. In some ways, it scarcely resembled the original story, but it was infinitely better for all the time I put into it.

Moral: When a story isn’t coming together, if you don’t love it…don’t trash it. Put it away, come back to it. The more inspired pieces will be salvageable, and you may be able to make a little magic out of it.

Well, I got a couple more short-story acceptances over the weekend.  This was great news, and frankly, it’s the shot from the gun.  I’ve been listening for it: the sound of, “on your mark…get set…” write that novel.

And the cool thing is:  I AM ready and set.  So, here goes.

Wish me luck!

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.

I recently sent something, a short story, to the ezine The Rose and the Thorn.  This is such a great place, not just for the quality fiction you’ll find there, but also for some very good resources on the craft of writing and other resources.  Articles there include topics such as  setting (and maintaining) writing quotas and why submissions are rejected, from an editor’s point of view.  Check out:

http://www.theroseandthornezine.com/Suggestions.html

http://www.theroseandthornezine.com/Resources.html

A month ago, I threw out the novel I’d been working on.

Just pushed “save” and archived it.  Maybe I’ll come back to it, maybe (probably) not.

But…I am gearing up for the new novel.  I’ve been brainstorming, making notes, outlining, revving my little engine.

It hasn’t taken me over yet, so I’m not ready to start the actual writing.  In the meantime, I’m focused on the short stories I’ve been working on.

But that novel…I hear it, faintly…it’s cooing at me.

What kind of rejection is worse? The anonymous, “no thanks” kind or the kind that praises your writing, but rejects it anyway?

I really don’t know.

However, I just read t his rejection from a Chinese publisher (from Louis Zufofsky’s “A“):

Most honorable Sir,

We perused your manuscript with boundless delight. And we hurry to swear by our ancestors we have never read any other that equals its mastery. Were we to publish your work, we could never presume again on our public and name to print books of a standard not up to yours. For we cannot imagine that the next ten thousand years will offer its ectype. We must therefore refuse your work that shines as it were in the sky and beg you a thousand times to pardon our fault which impairs but our own offices. — Publishers.

Gads!

Writers write for a large variety of reasons: a compelling drive to do so, the desire to document an experience, the challenge of putting to words something that previously only existed in the imagination.

And then there are those who write with the dream of FAME, of getting published, of making millions…of going on book tours, signing copies, all the cache that comes with celebrity.

How many copies do you think you’d need to sell in order to have a bestseller? According to some sources, the answer is much less than you might imagine. In fact, in 1996, only 11 titles total sold over a million copies in the whole year! That was over ten years ago…granted, but according to a 2006 article in Publishers Weekly, there are about 200,000 titles published every year, of which less than 1% make it to the “Bestseller Lists.”

And what is a bestseller, anyway? Well, it’s relative, depending on what list it is, in which country, etc. See http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bestseller for more on this.

Another great resource on the topic (pertaining directly to Canada, but applicable in the U.S. as well) is http://www.writersunion.ca/industry.pdf — which demonstrates how an author who sells over 10,000 copies of a book would probably make somewhere in the neighborhood of $13,750 dollars.

Bottom line? You’ve got to love writing, and be doing it for the right reasons. True, some get rich, but the odds are not playing in your favor. Love your writing, your characters, your topics…enjoy them…cherish the whole experience: it’s likely the highest pay you’re gonna get.

So, my prior post…see below, was all about finding the motivation to keep on writing.

Well, I found the best motivation.  It’s that thing called an email from a literary journal or a magazine…or anyone, really…who says, “yes! we love this! We want everyone to read it.”  I just got a great email with words to that effect (minus the exclamation points, mind you). I had submitted a short story and it was accepted yesterday.

(waiting politely for the applause to stop before I continue) 

If there is something that will push you forward, it’s this: take the rejections in stride, but man…savor those acceptances. They are pure gold motivation for the spirit.