Week of August 15-21 (slightly belated)

[mrissa]

Two rejections, no acceptances. I didn't get as much accomplished for work this week as I might otherwise have liked, combining the return from Grand Rapids with Michelle and Scott's wedding stuff, but I made up my mind not to drive myself nuts trying to do a full week's work in a partial week.

And Michelle and Scott are now well and truly married, and all the minor crises added up to everything being fine, so far as I heard or witnessed. Safety pins and bobby pins and needle-and-thread were employed to good effect. I had not only a rose but also glitter in my hair (for the first time I recall). I'm a bit worn out from the weekend's activities and festivities, but I'm very glad they did it.

And what I want to know is: when did my college friends become my normal friends? Not all of them. But many.

Comments

[minnehaha.livejournal.com]

Wouldn't it speed up your process to shotgun your stories: submit them to four or five places at once? Oh, I know. "It just isn't done." Bullshit. It's done all the time, and it would make a whole lot of sense for you to do.

B

[mrissa.livejournal.com]

It's done all the time by nonfiction writers. It's done all the time by short fiction writers who aren't published much. I've never run into a pro short fiction writer who has a decent track record and has recommended doing this. Maybe I just haven't been asking all the pros I talk to (speak up if one of you-all has different advice from your own experience), but all I've heard has recommended against it. I'd rather have a decent relationship with an editor who sometimes buys my stuff and sometimes rejects it than alienate an otherwise reasonable editor by specifically going against their guidelines. Which almost all state specifically and in no uncertain terms that they want exclusive consideration of the story. Since they say it that clearly and that specifically, they get unhappy if they want a story and find out it's been sold elsewhere. I prefer not to bet against my own work.