[4183] in Depressing_Thoughts
one of these days i'm going to get my foot in the door....
nosaj@ATHENA.MIT.EDU (nosaj@ATHENA.MIT.EDU)
Fri Nov 12 12:26:47 1993
sigh.
a little over two months ago I sent off two stories for publication,
to different magazines, on the same day.
today they both came back in my mailbox, rejected.
that's not what's depressing (i can deal with rejections; i almost expected
one of them to be rejected).
what's depressing is they came back the exact same day. it makes me think
that somebody reads them, and they sit in a pile somewhere until the
story has fulfilled the industry standard waiting period of two months,
and then they get mailed back, unmarked, with a little note that says,
"Thank you for your submission to M Magazine. Unfortunately, it does
not quite suit our standards. We wish you luck in sending it elsewhere."
i know they don't have time for a critique, but i wish they would mark
at least one thing, *just* *one* *thing* that tells me what they didn't
like about it. Like "I don't believe your characters." Or "We don't publish
funny stories; sorry." Or "It's a little too long."
instead, i'm left to wonder whether they just accept brand-name authors
(although, granted, i've set my sights high so far; I felt i had to),
and meanwhile, i have to wait until they send back my rejected story
before i can send it out again (i think the official policy here is
that editors "frown" on simultaneous submissions), so a >2 month waiting
period means i can submit a story only six times in a year.
and while i'm waiting, i get to read stories that were published, and
i think to myself, is my writing really in a lower class than theirs?
ho hum.
