Writerly Rumination, 1998
31/12/98
So, unless there are any late emails, the 37 day mainstream bounce
from
Playboy is it for the year. HAPPY NEW YEAR everybody.
30/12/98
A 53 day personalised form from Aboriginal. (Totals updated
accordingly)
29/12/98 (later)
The post brought two more: a 52 day form from The Atlantic Monthly
and 22 days from Space & Time. I've updated the totals
below accordingly.
29/12/98
After the holiday vacuum, an 8 day rejection this morning from Talebones.
So, seeing as the year's nearly done, I thought I'd tot up the totals just
to see how we fared. Any additions will be evident over the next couple
of days.
|
Personals |
Personalised
Forms |
Forms |
Sales |
Rewrite
Requests |
| Genre |
165
|
41
|
67
|
5
|
2
|
| Mainstream |
8
|
5
|
43
|
0
|
0
|
| Total |
173
|
46
|
110
|
5
|
2
|
I promised scary totals, and looking at these, I think I was right.
So from 330 submissions I've accumulated five sales: three professional
and two semi-pro. Looks like 1999 has to be the year to better those odds,
'cause they ain't good, but realistically, they're par for the course.
I count this, so far, as not a bad year. Is this a litany of shame? I think
not. It shows I'm serious about what I'm doing.
I've still got something like 250,000 words out there in about 48 stories,
so doubtless there'll be more to report over the next weeks and months,
and that total doesn't include books. For all the theoretical texts and
courses there are, you can only learn so much -- the fundamentals. The
only real way to gain experience, to hone your craft, is to write, send
them out, and develop the gnarled horny skin that comes from rejection.
I'm much better than I was a couple of years ago, and I'll probably be
better still a couple of years hence. But meanwhile, I'll keep at it.
22/12/98
The ubiquitous form from Ed McFadden at Pirate Writings
arrives with an advertising flyer after 57 days. Still only five sales
so far for the year, and the year's drawing to a close. What -- nine more
days to go? You'll have to wait for the final scary totals for the year.
I keep reminding myself of the tale -- whether apocryphal or not -- of
Ray Bradbury garnering 900 odd rejections before his first sale.
21/12/98
Closer to the end of the year and only one return today -- 54 days
from the Avon Anthology. December is turning out to be a
very slow month. One of the nicest form rejections doing the rounds though,
so I thought I'd reproduce it here, in part:
While I found much to admire on your work, I'm afraid that on balance
I didn't feel it was quite right for the collection. And so I am returning
your material to you herewith, in the hopes that you will soon find an
enthusiastic home for it.
Nice that.
19/12/98 (later)
After a screw up with the US print run of Altair meaning
that issue #2 didn't see light of day in the States, I have updated my
story preview page to include some complete stories for your reading pleasure.
I've also included stories from some other places you might not have seen.
Happy reading.
19/12/98
Another detailed commentary from Amazing Stories at 109
days.
17/12/98
Not a good day all in all. I was booked to go to Petra on 26th December
for 5 days. Petra, Jordan, right? Well, I quote from the Australian High
Commission. "In light of United States and British strikes against Iraq,
Australians should consider deferring non-essential travel to Jordan for
the time being. Australians who choose to remain in Jordan should be aware
that the Australian Ambassador is being authorised to withdraw non-essential
Embassy staff and dependents from Amman..." etc. etc. Looks like it's the
silly season in London again. <sigh> And I was really looking forward
to all that history.
Also today, I received a bounce from Gollancz at 197 days
for one of the novels, "respectful" but a bounce nonetheless.
So far opinion is overwhelmingly in favour of continuing my posts in
the current form. But, for those of you who have not, continue to MAIL
ME and let me know.
15/12/98
And still the returns come in. 50 days from Weird Tales (arcane
glyph) and 50 days from The Paris Review. And just
for my own edification, please MAIL
ME and let me know if you want
me to continue posting return times and commentary on markets here. I'll
bow to opinion.
14/12/98
Yesterday's return from cool and foggy Madrid (I know, you just don't
think of Madrid in those terms) saw a bounce from Amazing Stories
at 123 days. As usual a detailed and thoughtful analysis by Kim Mohan of
why the piece didn't work for him.
In other news ... check
this out!
8/12/98 (later)
Returned home to a 98 day form rejection from Ploughshares.
This was kinda a MR piece that I thought might stand a chance in a mainstream
market. Oh well.
8/12/98 (early)
Catching up. Yesterday saw three returns. Altair at 8
days,
Talebones at 8 days and The Third Alternative
at 42. I sent a few back out yesterday after careful consideration and
now have only three sitting in the waiting to go pile. It's likely that
two of the three will sit there for a while as I consider whether they'll
be going back out at all. The two in question are fantasy, and there really
aren't that many serious fantasy markets out there. I'm not prepared to
give my stories away for copies. Three cents a word is the professional
benchmark, and paltry sum that it is, it's still something. "Selling" a
story for copies is tantamount to vanity publishing. It costs you more
than that to keep a story on the market. By the time a piece has done the
rounds, three cents a word might just recoup how much you've spent to submit
it in the first place. Despite Heinlein's "keep it on the market," there
must be a cut off point.
5/12/98
Not a rapid month so far. Two back this morning -- one from Challenging
Destiny at 29 days telling me "my writing style was stunning,"
which makes me wonder about the general quality of slush, and one from
The
Third Alternative at 80 days.
30/11/98
End of the month and no returns today, so time to tot up the stats.
An average month with 25 genre returns and 5 mainstream. Of the genre bounces,
16 were personal, 2 personal forms and 7 straight forms. Of the mainstream,
it was a landmark month: 3 personals, 1 personal form and 1 straight form.
Nonetheless, every single one was a rejection. A few 'close but no cigar',
but close is no cigar. I think some of those stories are getting
closer to retirement. At least I've got an idea and the start for a new
story kicking around in the back of my head and yes, progress is being
made on the novel.
29/11/98
And the litany continues. Last night I received, at 38 days, a note
from
Out of the Shadows and Into the Night saying the story
they'd been holding for final consideration didn't make it into the antho.
"This story is certainly publishable..." etc. etc. It does little to ease
the frustration knowing you were so close. Perhaps I should just buy a
box of cigars.
28/11/98
A litany of frustration today: I wrote off five stories from non-responding
markets. Multiple e-mail queries later and nothing, nada, zilch. The markets
in question are Agony in Black, Outside and
B&A.
The last I didn't even bother querying; they'd already told me previously
that they don't respond to e-mail submissions unless they want to buy the
story. Just too much guesswork. They're sort of like
Del Rey
in that regard. It shows how much respect some places have for the concerns
and frustrations of writers. Ultimately, as a writer, you're at the bottom
of the food chain. Yeah, well, wait until I'm famous -- then we'll see...
In other news over the last couple of days while I was in Madrid, I
received a close but no cigar from a far more responsive market at 106
days. That was from TransVersions.
24/11/98
A mixed day, evenly balanced between genre and mainstream though bringing
a couple of stories closer to retirement. <sigh> On Spec
at 124 days, Crank! at 17, Epoch at 39 and
Front
& Centre at 8.
23/11/98
A bounce from On Spec at 184 days. Response times like
that make me reluctant to submit to markets, but hey, what can you do?
22/11/98
Two returns this morning, both by email. One from Altair at
25 days and one from Pulp Eternity at 1 day. Spent some time
this morning also going through, looking at what I had out there and thinking
about the cull. What should I retire and what should I persist with? Somewhere
inside my head there's a line of quality. Don't ask me how to define it,
but there's a gut feeling about the comparative quality of a story. And
yet, when I look back at sales, some of those stories waver across the
field of view making me doubt that judgement. Can you ever look at a story
with true objectivity? I don't rightly know.
I'm also slightly torn at the moment about sending out another batch
of queries to markets I feel should have responded or that I've queried
before. Sending a query by email is such an uncertainty. Did they get the
mail? Did it get lost in the aether? Are they just ignoring me? Maybe that's
just paranoia, but I don't want to develop the reputation for being a pain
either.
20/11/98
Remiss of me, these lags in update, but here we are again. Returned
from Athens last night where I spent three very long days of work. A friend
on CompuServe highlighted the fact that if you're anywhere for work, you
see the beautiful climate and culture out an office window, if the office
has a window, or out the car window before the sun comes up on the way
to the office, or out the car window on the way back from the office after
the sun has gone down. Just another hotel room in just another city. It
came down in vast waves from the sky yesterday, with the streets awash,
and cars and the ground floors of offices semi-submerged.
And in the interim, Clean Sheets sent me an encouraging
29 day bounce, The Third Alternative came back at 99 days,
Playboy
at 38 and Aboriginal at 38.
But the big news is that fellow Waver, Charlene Brusso just sold her
story "A Night at the Opera" to Amazing Stories. Look out
for it folks. And FTO!
13/11/98
Friday the 13th...and so it might be. A terrible day for returns. Five
back today and two yesterday. Most of them had very encouraging notes,
but an encouraging note ain't a sale is it? They came from both sides of
the fence. For those interested in such things: Out of the Shadows
and into the Night at 5 days, Cemetary Sonata at
105, Space & Time at 39, The Edge at 6.
And for the mainstream we had Zoetrope at 180 days, and two
from New York Stories at 68 days.
10/11/98
Sometimes I wonder if editors even really look at manuscripts or cover
letters. I received two back from Brutarian today, one at
58 and one at 47 days. One came back with the form in the stamped envelope.
The other, which I'd sent two IRCs with, came back whole with the same
form. Both the cover letter and the manuscript itself said clearly that
it was a disposable sub. <shrug> Perhaps the thought was that the two
IRCs were enough to send back the entire manuscript. Tres bizarre.
7/11/98
Weird Tales shoots one back at 33 days.
5/11/98
Last night's return from Madrid saw a 29 day return from Absolute
Magnitude. At the same time, while I was there I received a 95
day return from Cemetary Sonata and one at 9 days from The
Goblin Market. This morning's e-mail saw a flurry of activity post
WFC. Crank! sent two back at 8 and 11 days with the old tar-pit
form rejection and one came back from Talebones at 11 days.
1/11/98
I retired a story this morning, something I'm reluctant to do, but
looking at the remaining available markets, there's nowhere else I really
want to send it. Oh, there are other places it could go -- just not ones
I really want to send it to. Perhaps this is the start of a trend. Perhaps
I could rewrite it and treat it as something entirely new, but I think
I've moved on from the place where it was originally wriiten. I think the
next few months will see more of this as I cast a new eye over things I
once thought were right to keep sending out. The internal critic lives.
(Does someone have a stake?)
31/10/98
| Well, it's been a bumper month. Two more back this
morning: Absolute Magnitude at 33 days and Aboriginal
at 129. Yesterday saw three more retunrs. My 8th submission to Writers
of the Future again brought no cigar and took 121 days. Challenging
Destiny came back in 17 days and Playboy in 79. Figures
for the month are:- 34 genre returns of which 24 were personal, 4 personalised
forms and 6 straight form letters. I also managed to accrue 8 mainstream
rejections, two of which were personal, leaving me with a total of 42 rejections
for the month. Yikes! At least I'm back into the novel again, managing
finally to add another couple of thousand words to the total. |
28/10/98
Nothing much to report today, though yesterday saw a 47 day return
from the new Avon Anthology. At least I did some writing
last night. Mainstreamish stuff inspired more than anything by the Booker
Prize. |
26/10/98
Trawling through the old subconcious and the day to day for an idea
at the moment. From the idea comes the beginning, then I find the ending
and finally I can write the story. The time between the beginning and the
ending is probably the longest, and sometimes that ending will change and
thereby change the entire story.
Four back today: one from The New Yorker at 168 days,
one from Quantum at 16, one from Out of the Shadows
and into the Night at 11 days and finally, one from Terra
Incognita
at 89 days. |
23/10/98
Back from Madrid where I did virtually no work at all on my own stuff.
In winter, they work very long hours in Madrid. So, back to two e-bounces
and two snail. 2 days from Altair, 13 days from
The
Goblin Market, 40 days from The Third Alternative
and
10 from F&SF. At least the comments from Gordon
Van Gelder made me believe I'd passed a kind of hurdle in my writing. It
makes me believe that there is value in having a period of reflection and
self-analysis, instead of simply churning out the words. I know my
work has matured over the last couple of years and I'm closer to my real
"natural" voice. |
21/10/98
Still in moderate Madrid, but a few updates to add to the list over
the last couple of days. Today saw an e-bounce from Talebones
at 6 days. Yesterday brought two -- one from The Third
Alternative at 96 days and one from Interzone at
21 days (exceptionally fast). Monday saw an e-bounce from Crank!
at 13 days and a mainstream from Epoch at 34 days.
The last was really on the borders of mainstream. More of a magic
realist piece that I thought might stand a chance on literary merit.
No such luck. |
17/10/98
Updates may be few and far between over the next week. I'm off to Madrid
again until Friday. Hopefully, the old hotel room regime will allow the
production of many words as it used to. One mainstream bounce yesterday
-- 40 days from Event. And this morning saw one from Amazing
at 86 days and one from Terra Incognita at 96 days. Still
about 58 out there, but I believe I will have to start considering some
of them as dead and look for other markets soon.
In other news, congrats go to Ron Collins for placing third in
the Writers of the Future. This will be the second volume
of theirs in a row with one of Ron's stories in it. |
15/10/98
Having an A month this month. 4 days from Altair, 64
from
Asimov's (back to the personalised form) and 32 days
from
Analog. |
13/10/98
One return today at 111 days from Terra Incognita,
but I finished a new story this morning. This is a positive sign. Another
1000 words and a rework. Inspiration hit on the bus. |
11/10/98
This daily writing regime is producing results. I wrote 1500 words
today, the sort that just flow out. I'll probably have to go back and prune
and trim later, but it's real production. More consistent writing than
I've done for ages. In other news, I have a rewrite request in and I've
just had news that my sale to The Martian Wave is being pulled
from the web and included in a print publication The Star*** Anthology
a regular anthology coming out in December. Further details can be found
at www.angelfire.com/ca2/promart/mwindex.html.
Oh, and I just realised, I forgot to mention the stats for September:
22 genre returns, 15 of which were personal, 4 personalised forms and 2
forms. In the same period I had 2 mainstream returns, both forms. Out of
this number I have 1 sale. So, 23 rejections, one sale. Not a bad month
in all. |
7/10/98
E-bounce day today. One from Altair at 4 days and one
from
The Goblin Market at 4 days. Still sticking to my regime
of 300 words minimum a day. Have to rebuild the daily habit. Now I'm getting
used to travelling again, it might become easier. |
6/10/98
The mainstreams are coming thick and fast -- Event at
85 days and The Atlantic Monthly at 20. |
5/10/98
Another 10 hour return from Out of the Shadows and Into the Night
last night, and today saw a 135 day bounce from New York Stories
and one at 29 from Epoch. |
4/10/98
Last night saw a 10 hour email return from Out of the Shadows
and Into the Night. I know I'm always banging on about how long
returns take, but that seems just too fast. |
3/10/98
October has really started with a bang, or maybe that should be a whimper.
Returned from Madrid last night to find all the 'A's: Altair
at 4 days, Aurealis at 100 and Asimov's at
65. And back to the lowest level of form with Asimov's --
not even the usual personalisation. Then this morning saw 9 days from Talebones,
9 days from F&SF and 139 days from New York Stories.
At least all these were personals. If this rate keeps up, I'll have 60
returns by the end of the month. Let's hope at least some of them are sales. |
29/9/98
Three back at two days from the new Design Image Group Anthology, Out
of the Shadows and into the Night. Interesting how email changes
the patterns of return times. Ultimately the pattern of the industry. So,
I was performing the updates of my database and was noticing how many of
the markets I've submitted to no longer exist. Another sad commentary on
the state of this game. The markets that have seen most of my work are
in order, F&SF, Interzone, Asimov's,
Playboy,
and SF Age. At least I'm still shooting high and they're
still open.
26/9/98
And the week's snail mail ends with a 65 day return from TransVersions.
24/9/98
A veritable flood today. Three from The Silver Web at
14, 23 and 24 days and one from Aboriginal at 43 days. Just
about finished the six books I have to read and review by Sunday. After
then, I should be able to get into writing some more. I think I need to
retire some stories just to limit the amount of work there is printing,
writing letters, addressing envelopes, sticking on stamps etc. etc. It
chews up so much productive time...
22/9/98
A short (for them) return from Cemetary Dance at 118
days. I shouldn't complain -- the market's closed until March next year
anyway.
19/9/98
The inevitable personalised form from Asimov's this morning
at 51 days and a 178 day return from Writers of the Future
telling me I was not a finalist in the first quarter. I don't know what's
happening there, but their responses are becoming longer and longer. Makes
me wonder how long the contest will actually keep going.
18/9/98
A couple of days away in sunny Madrid and three in my absence: a 51
day from Interzone (a form ignoring my query contained in
the covering letter <sigh>) and two from Zoetrope at 186
days. That's a long time to wait for a response. Way too long.
15/9/98
Definitely catching up. A 1 day return from Pulp Eternity and
102 days from Amazing Stories.
14/9/98
A 34 day return from Altair today, but that time is a
little misleading. The email telling me went missing somewhere in the aether.
13/9/98
A 12 day return from Altair and two new arrivals to the
household today. Joining the family are Inca, a lilac point male and Araminta
a seal point girl. They're still sniffing around and crawling low as the
become used to their surrounds. The stretched necks and bat-eared looks
are really fun to watch. Many thanks to those who offered congratulations
on the most recent sale. And congrats to each and every one of you for
hanging in there, writing, thinking about writing, talking about writing
and simply understanding what it means to tread this path together.
12/9/98
Two this morning: one at 78 days from TransVersions and
11 days from F&SF. Catching up, but still a slow month.
My own work is being eaten away by the pressures of real life work. Seven
more printed out ready to go out, but nothing very new there. Time to finish
some stories...
11/9/98
I was right. This is turning out to be a very slow month. Just when
you thought it was safe to go back into the water, two returns. Received
a pleasant 10 day return from Pulp Eternity and finally,
finally, a mainstream return from Event at 117 days. It still
fascinates me the difference between mainstream and genre markets. My current
average return for genre is 54 days and for mainstream 81 days. Is it the
volume of submissions? Is it the attitude? There are other differences
too. Rarely will I get a personalised rejection from a mainstream publication,
yet it's more the norm in genre, but then I think the spec fic community
is closer. The other major difference, of course, is that mainstream markets
for the most part accept simultaneous submissions. I am loathe to make
simulsubs, but there are some well known pros who say to do it. It doesn't
seem to do me any good in mainstream, so why should I risk the ire of some
or several editors by doing it genre? Instead, I'll wait and wait like
the rest of us. 54 days is not too long really.
6/9/98
A pleasant little e-mail telling me I've just sold my story "Order"
to The Martian Wave, a new web-based organ. It will be appearing
in their January issue. And I've just finished my SF novella to send off
to Spain tomorrow for the UPC prize. Not a bad day all in all.
5/9/98
This looks like it's going to be a slow month. Stories sent out and
waiting, waiting. This morning saw a 168 day return from Terra Incognita
on a submission I'd given up for dead anyway. <shrug>
3/9/98
First for the month, a 97 day return from Interzone.
The story seemed to be too "mystical" for them. Oh well. Out it goes again.
31/8/98
A long hot week in Madrid, and finally I'm back. No air-conditioning
on the first couple of nights, and at temperatures of around 110 degrees
F (42 C) at 5:30 in the afternoon, it wasn't too comfortable. I actually
managed to get some work done on the novella for the Spanish prize, so
this is a Good Thing. Several returns in my absence: an 86 day bounce
from Interzone (not one of my better stories, they say...)
a 26 and 38 day from Space & Time a 15 day from The
Silver Web (good story but too traditional); one at 186 days from
the now-defunct Age of Wonder; a bounce on a reprint from
Best
of the Rest 2 at 15 days, one at 86 days or so from
The New
Yorker for one of my almost-mainstream pieces and a book bounce
at 156 days. That's a pretty good turnaround for a novel manuscript, and
the editor concerned did say he found it interesting and it was passed
around to several other editors, so that's heartening. Of course this was
followed by not for inclusion in their already full list, yada yada. Keep
chipping away I suppose. One day they'll bite. And...stats for the month?
22 Returns: 13 personals; 1 personal form and 8 straight forms. I have
about fourteen stories sitting in the box at the moment. Time to focus
and get them out there. That's too many to have on hold.
22/8/98
At last, a response to report on. A tiny copied piece of paper from
Space & Time at 24 days. Quite a speedy turnaround from
them. I'm currently working hard on a novella for the UPC Spanish prize
competition. My problem is keeping the thing to under 40,000 words. That's
the hard part. First prize is 1,000,000 pesetas. Translates to around £4,000.
Sheesh, that's almost as much as a first novel advance in this country.
And strangely, I'm off to Madrid tomorrow for work for a week.
18/8/98
I sent out a whole bunch of queries by e-mail last night. A number
of stories had gone past the 18 week mark which I find to be reasonable,
so I queried. I've only had one answer, and the very next day, the bounce
arrived -- 134 days from On Spec. Not bad for them actually.
I've had much longer. Still haven't heard from first or second quarter
for Writers of the Future. I've pretty much written off the
first quarter as lost in the post. It's become so that with some markets,
I don't even bother querying after a certain amount of time; I just write
them off. And the dread date is approaching where I have to seriously consider
retiring a couple of stories. I've been sending things out for just over
two and a half years now, and some things are running out of markets. Yes,
it takes that long for a story to do the rounds if you start at the top.
Frightening isn't it?
14/8/98
Nine stories went back out yesterday and one came back in. The speedy
2 day reply from Pulp Eternity once again shows helpful commentary
and a clue that editor Steve Algieri prefers standard limited 3rd
person POV. And more writers join the circle of journals forming above.
12/8/98
Received my contrib copy of Altair #2 today. It's such
a sexy publication. And there, side by side with my story is a story by
fellow Waver Devon Monk. Yes! FTO!.
11/8/98
Back from Baltimore. I caught up with far too many people to mention
-- some new friends, some old. One thing this WorldCon has shown me is
I need to really work at the things I'm doing. Time to change my approach
and concentrate once more on elements of craft. I also need to write more.
That's what a writer does. During my absence, I had two returns from Altair
at 16 and 18 days and one from Exodus at 8 days. Today added
to the total with one from Interzone at 80 days (with the
comment that it was not one of my better stories <sigh>) and two from
Italian magazine Nova SF both at 138 days. Apparently they
want stories with more "bite." I can do that...
4/8/98
Two more just to speed me on my way to Baltimore. One at 28 days from
Best of the Rest 2 and one at 12 days from The Edge.
I'll be updating once I return from WorldCon.
3/8/98
Gaak! Five today. Count them...five! Three from Absolute Magnitude
at 64, 67 and 74 days and two from Glimmer Train both at
21 days. My fear of forms is growing. (Hmm, makes note to self. "Fear of
Forms." Could be a title there somewhere.) Still, off to WorldCon tomorrow
and I hope to see some of you there, destroy a few brain cells and again
see the family -- the writer's family that is. Time and again things happen
to bolster that belief..
2/8/98
A snappy 2 day turnaround from Steve Algieri at Pulp
Eternity. This is one of the editors with whom it's a real
pleasure to do business. Helpful and detailed commentary on what did or
did not work for him in the story.
29/7/98
There are times when one loses faith as a writer -- halfway through
a book, when you suffer rejection after rejection, when you doubt your
own work, when you see others, friends, colleagues having their success
-- and then you think about not writing, about not releasing those words
that slide together in your head and you know. There isn't really
a choice. Three back today from Space & Time at 35, 61
and 93 days.
27/7/98
Very sneaky mailman. He slipped in four returns while I was away in
Madrid yesterday. One from Brutarian at 15 days, one from
SF Age at 15 days (a form...my second in a row from Mr. Edelman
<sigh>) one from Terra Incognita at 92 days and one from
TransVersions
at 68 days. And I'm really starting to worry
-- the number of form rejections I'm receiving for this month is about
even with the number of personalised, some from markets that have generally
been personal. Hmm, methinks I need a WorldCon. Oh, that's right; there's
one next week.
25/7/98
A 55 day return from Asimov's.
24/7/98
Seven go out this morning as two come in. A 41 day return and a 28
day from Playboy both. Chicago postmarks, so they didn't
make the cut apparently. One of the stories I feel is one of my better
works. So I still haven't worked out how this market thinks.
21/7/98
We seem to be getting them all in before WorldCon. Two today from The
Edge and one rewrite request from another source at 9 days. All
will be revealed with the results in due course. So, wish me luck as I
prepare for the rewrite.
17/7/98
Four today. Three from Pirate Writings at 24, 34 and
42 days respectively and one at 280 days from Odyssey. Not
that I hadn't given the last up for dead anyway. My ratio of personalised
genre rejections has just dropped to 76%. Should I read something into
the drop? Probably not. And more work on the novel.
15/7/98
This morning brought a 3 day friendly rejection from Pulp Eternity
and yesterday a 150 day form from The Paris Review. The difference
between mainstream and genre is remarkable. I'm writing again, at least.
The short story is progressing more slowly than usual. I'm taking care
over ever word, reading and rereading sentences and paragraphs, feeling
their flow. I spent most of the evening wotking through the seven chapters
of the novel, changing a particular plot point so that the story works
a little better. The change has added an extra twist that I like. Let's
see if the momentum carries on.
10/7/98
The beat goes on. Another bounce from Playboy at 43 days.
The last three have been postmarked from Michigan. I wonder if they have
a new reader...
9/7/98
People have been so supportive since my last posting. I've received
a number of very kind notes and I want people to know I really appreciate
them. It's hard to get back into the swing of things, but I must. So, the
last couple of days have seen two returns from Playboy at
41 and 53 days and two from TransVersions at 51 and 73 days.
Even though real life gets in the way, I have to get back to serious writing.
I have bits of stories accumulating here and there that need forming. I
have a rewrite I must undertake, and a few more comments on stories I have
to work in or at least think about. Finished a review article this morning
and have started on the next monster tome for review. When I've finished
that review, I'll write and I'll write hard. I have about six stories sitting
waiting to go back out, and I'll deal with those this weekend. The sadness
is still with me, but now it's tempered by concern for my little Burmese
boy who's fretting.
DARIA
8/7/98
I lost a devoted friend and long-time companion today. Our tabby torty
Siamese, Daria was hit by a car on Saturday night. The stay-at-home girl
who used to sit with me, just to be there, in my private rooms at night,
didn't make it. Daria was always there -- waiting for me when I came home
at night, distraught when I was about to leave. She had a fascination for
brushes, all shapes and sizes, and would gift us her toy mouse every night
in bed. And always she would talk. We'd have conversations about the universe
or the simple fact that she was there, or I was there, or both. It didn't
matter -- we just talked. Daddy's Little Girl is no longer with us; her
big blue eyes will be sadly missed and her intense little face staring
at me from across the table. We said goodbye to her this morning, but that
can never be enough. She'll never truly be gone. |
4/7/98
A 75 day return from Interzone and an 89 day return from
Terra
Incognita. Off to see the Wimbledon Men's Final tomorrow. Another
lesson in persistence?
3/7/98
Happy Fourth of July on the 3rd to those who celebrate it. Today I
received my contrib copies and payment for "Pfhhht!" in Cabaret Magazine.
Another story in print and another paid for. In other news, a short turnaround
bounce from Kurt Roth at Quantum. First for the month.
30/6/98
End of the month, halfway through the year, and another 44 day return
from Amazing Stories. So to round off the half year, here
are the stats: 137 genre returns, 33 non-genre. Out of that, four sales
and one rewrite request that turned into a sale. The ratio is still better
than last year, so I must be making progress. Still chasing the elusive
book deal, but that will come. And so I persist.
28/6/98
The month's nearly over. Yesterday I received my tickets for Baltimore,
so I'm signed, sealed but yet to be delivered to WorldCon. After much confusion,
I managed to confirm my booking for the entire period at the Baltimore
Hilton and Towers, August 4 to 10. Friday brought an 81 day response from
the resurrected Amazing Stories. Detailed, quoting line and
page numbers, Kim Mohan certainly provides an amazing critique.
23/6/98
Levels creep up slowly but surely. Four in these last two days -- two
at 148 days from On Spec, one at 56 days from Alfred
Hitchcock's Mystery Magazine and a 66 day return from Aurealis.
Another review to appear in Odyssey which is currently at
the printer. Still not so much writing going on, and I must address this
very soon...
21/6/98
Back from another week in sunny Sarasota for work and things have picked
up in my absence (sadly not positively). And Sarasota is waaay too sunny.
Heat and Hartley don't mix that well. Give me a good wholesome cool climate
any day. During the week, sundry returns: 24 days from The Atlantic
Monthly, 73 days from Event, 31 days from Epoch
-- and for genre buffs -- 15 days from Excursions,
21 and 65 days from Space & Time, 88 days from Terra
Incognita, 21 days from Tomorrow, and that be the
lot. On a nicer note, I received my return contract and payment from Altair
for my story "Grievous Music" to see print in August.
13/6/98
My contract for "Mandragon" in Pulp Eternity arrived
this morning. For those interested in subscribing, I have included a link
to subscription
details. Just print off the form and send it off. I also received
my information pack for Bucconeer. WorldCon here I come.
12/6/98
Nay, 'tis a trickle. Two more today, one from Asimov's
at 58 days and one from Weird Tales at 46 days. Now this
was only my 29th submission to Asimov's and one day they'll
buy something. Kristine Kathryn Rusch, when she was at the helm of F&SF
used to say she expected to see about fifty submissions from a new writer
before she was likely to buy something. Solution -- keep churning them
out. One of the best ways to learn the craft of writing is to write. You
won't learn anything or improve your technique by not writing. So I persist.
Am I good enough now? Nobody's good enough now. Rejections are a part of
a writer's life.
9/6/98
Is this the first sign of the aforementioned flood? I don't know. Two
returns today, one from The Third Alternative at 9 days and
one from Interzone at 40. The first one, unusually, was a
form. He must have really not liked that story. The second one provided
useful commentary with some fairly insightful observations. Oh,
well. Onwards!
5/6/98
A feel a flood coming on, but not quite yet. Two today, both from Pirate
Writings; one came in at 19 days and the other at 39. Both bore
the usual uninformative rejection slip.
4/6/98
A few days since the last update but nothing really has been happening
apart from work and little writing. Today brought an 18 day return from
Marion Zimmer Bradley's Fantasy Magazine; the "A perfectly
good story but..." letter. Another book bounce, but this one's out at three
more places, so we'll see. Smoking seriously again. Time to cut it out
again this weekend. Ouch.
31/5/98
A short little note from Talebones at 8 days to round
out the month. In retrospect, the month wasn't too bad. Twenty genre returns,
one sale -- still reasonable figures. The area that's really suffered,
however is the writing, and I still have to find a slot where I don't feel
totally brain dead to pick it up again. Two or three projects languish,
most notably the current novel. Time to become philosophical again rather
than blue about the grind. Just to help that process, I'm reading Jude
the Obscure by Thomas Hardy. Having seen the film (which was bleak
but marvelous) I have an urge to try and relate the book to the film, see
how they put it together, see how they drew from the text.
30/5/98
Alcohol has been my undoing. Well, I have been my undoing. I've had
a number of cigarettes over the last couple of days and I now have to go
through the hell again. It's just so easy. Yesterday saw a 36 day return
from Playboy and a 9 day return from Tomorrow.
So the treadmill goes on, but not without the observation that this has
been a very slow month and I can't work out why. Yesterday also saw some
GRAND news. Justina Robson has just scored her first book deal.
May she have many more. You can go and visit her from my People
page.
27/5/98
Today is a blue day. I received a bounce yesterday for one of my fantasy
novels, saying it was nicely done, but that it wasn't epic enough to be
successful in today's marketplace. I think this is a sad commentary on
the state of the industry, or is it the readership? Why does fantasy have
to be epic?
And in other news, a 9 day return from F&SF, a 67
day detailed commentary from Amazing (they're only buying
science fiction, folks) and two from Cemetary Dance at 114
and 128 days.
24/5/98
Just to spice up the day as there's not much happening on the reporting
front, I will drop this little quotation from Kurt Roth:
"QUANTUM Speculative Fiction will be published quarterly
by Obscura Press beginning in January 1999. For our first year, we will
be closed to unsolicited submissions. We apologize if this seems in any
way elitist, but we feel it is a necessary step toward becoming a stable
market for all writers, established or otherwise."
Kurt has scored the editing gig for what promises to be a fine quality
publication. Way to go, the bama boy. If I know the way Kurt approaches
everything he does, there will be no half measures.
23/5/98
Oh joy, oh bliss -- a long weekend. Mayhap I'll get some writing done.
The mail has been making up for the dearth of returns so far this month.
Yesterday brought two returns from Weird Tales (arcane glyph)
at 66 and 51 days and a yellow form from Realms of Fantasy
at 95 days. This is the good form as opposed to the evil blue form of death.
Today's mail saw a 61 days return from Space and Time. "Sorry,
well written, of course, but not quite for us." Ah well, at least it was
well written. The month is quiet on a number of fronts; Next Wave is taking
a submission break to cope with headspace, backlog, work and book deadlines.
So close to the month being over and I've received less than half my normal
returns for a month. What dictates this sudden blockage in the flow? Holidays
perhaps? The aether? Who can say...?
Oh, and I also picked up my copy of Odyssey #4 wherein
I have reviews of a couple of books appearing.
22/5/98
Two returns in yesterday's mail. Slightly freaky where two separate
markets bounce things at exactly the same time. Both at 57 days from Asimov's
and
Playboy. Chicago bounce from the latter, so it didn't make
the cut.
20/5/98
I cannot believe how quiet this month has been. One return yesterday
from
Analog at 40 days where Dr. Schmidt said quite nice
things (but not enough to buy the story). Trying to repace my time and
find those hours which work best for writing. Haven't yet decided whether
it should be at night or early in the morning. As a result of this transition
in my life, the novel is progressing not at all and the short stories are
simply crawling. I have a couple of ideas ticking over in the back of my
head, and I'm sure they'll worm their way out sooner or later...just not
yet. And tomorrow is five weeks of not smoking. Making progress, but the
urge has not left me yet.
17/5/98
News seems to indicate that Age of Wonder has folded.
I've had a story there for 90 days now and this is the second time around.
I sent it again after suspecting it had been lost. The writing should have
been on the wall then.... The particular story has garnered positive notes
from a number of editors, including advice to keep it on the market. Sadly
it is running out of places where I want to send it.
16/5/98
Things have been a little slow during my trip to Sarasota. Back this
morning and jet lagged. Writing has suffered. BUT, during the sojourn,
I sold a story to Altair which will be appearing in the next
issue. Editor Rob Stephenson spent time and effort developing the story
into a shape which was acceptable and I'm grateful for the trouble he took.
It's good to find editors prepared and able to take time and effort with
writers.
I've only had one genre return this whole week, a 53 day friendly personal
from TransVersions. All the rest have been mainstream. Two
at 45 days from Glimmer Train, one at 28 days from the Atlantic
Monthly and one at 170 days (!!!) from Zoetrope.
This last is waaay too long in my opinion, however humble that opinion
might be.
AND congratulations to Lisa Silverthorne for her sale to the
Sword
& Sorceress anthology.
8/5/98
And so...where are we? Work presses down upon me, clouding my access
circuits. Off to Sarasota on Sunday morning and perhaps incommunicado --
well, certainly in terms of letters. There will just have to be a massive
report after my return a week later. Yesterday gave three returns; an 80
day form from
Triquarterly, a 101 day pleasant personal from
Interzone and an 80 day checklist from from Aboriginal.
The day before gave me an encouraging personal from New York Stories
at 44 days (what's this? getting closer with a mainstream market?)
and a rewrite request from another publication. I will reveal the source
once there's a firm decision one way or the other. In the little space
I have left I am working on the story in question.
6/5/98
First day of work yesterday and...my brain hurts. Information overload.
I really felt the need for a cigarette several times, but I held out. Two
returns yesterday -- a 34 day form from The Atlantic Monthly
and a 215 day personal from Year 2000.
2/5/98
Just about to go into the mail drought of the long weekend and it doesn't
start out well. Sad news is that James Lowder just posted on SFF net that
the publisher is pulling the plug on Troll. At the same time,
I received a short note from Curio saying they no longer
publish fiction. So, that's three stories that suddenly need other homes
to go to without even trying. Market lists are all well and good, but once
again, life reveals how quickly they become out of date.
1/5/98
First for the month, a rapid email return from Altair.
Just finished Fool's War by Sarah Zettel and I've started on Spares
by Michael Marshall Smith. I believe there's a point as a writer which
once you've stepped past, you can no longer read simply for pleasure. My
reading has changed over the past few months. For a while I couldn't read
at all; the internal critic was too loud. Now I've gone beyond that, but
I will never read in the same way again. When you choose to write, to really
write, to learn the aspects of craft and concentrate on the mechanics of
what you're doing, you choose to forego that natural, automatic reading
pleasure. Is it a sacrifice worth making? I don't know. Now that pleasure
is imbued with an appreciation of skill and craft and an automatic analysis
of how things are constructed, for a turn of phrase, for a choice of words,
for a touch of cleverness. Sometimes it's hard to step beyond that to the
good old-fashioned sense of wonder and the ability to submerge self in
story.
30/4/98
All quiet on lots of fronts. This morning saw a 15 day form reject
from
SF Age. Now comes the speculative part: I haven't received
a form bounce from Scott for over a year. He either really hated this story
or he's really busy or I'm reading too much into this or shit happens or
something. It's that looking for shreds of meaning in the meaningless that
drives this process from time to time. Oh, and a snappy 2 day form rejection
from The Edge. So, that brings the total up to twenty-two
genre returns for the month, sixteen of which were personal, and one of
which was a sale. I've also had seven mainstream returns this month. Feels
like an average sort of month.
27/4/98
And so... congratulations are in order to several people: Kurt Roth
for his sale to the SFF Anthology, Ron Collins for his monthly writing
gig, Mary Soon Lee for her nominations and sales. This morning I
received my accommodation confirmation from Baltimore. Why does it not
surprise me that it's not complete? I requested a hotel from 4th to 10th
August, and they have me booked in from the 6th for 4 nights. Anyone going
to WorldCon should check their accommodation soon. Anyway, I rang them,
and they inform me that they need to request more rooms from the hotels.
I'll have to wait for confirmation of the other two nights. It appears
I'm in my third choice hotel, the Hilton.
On the returns front, an 8 day bounce from Talebones,
a 133 day return from Dragon, a 72 day return from The
Gettysburg Review and a lightning mere hours return from the SFF
Net Anthology.
25/4/98
An interesting couple of days including trashing a few files on my
hard drive and going for a company medical. The last couple of days have
seen a plethora of returns. A 152 day return from a nameless US publisher
for one of my novels. That's all right. There are other publishers out
there. And, on the short story front, a 52 day return from Playboy,
a 10 day from F&SF, a 34 day from Alfred Hitchcock's
Mystery Magazine, a 10 day from Altair and a 36 day
from The Third Alternative. Two forms and three personals.
And in real world stuff: I'm still not smoking, I can now sit down and
write again, and it's official; I start work on 5th May. First week in
London, second week in Florida, then back to scooting around the world
again. The position is a management role within software deployment across
Europe, Middle East, India and Africa, but reporting directly into the
States. Should be a few inspirations for stories amongst that lot.
21/4/98
Imagine my surprise last night when checking Pulp Eternity's
web page and discovering that my story "Mandragon" has been selected for
publication. Confirmation arrived today. Chalk up sale number three for
the year. It'll be nice to appear in the same issue with Mr. Roth as well.
20/4/98
Going into my fifth day without a cigarette and surprise, surprise,
I'm still climbing the walls. I did however manage to finish the novel
chapter and have some idea what's about to happen in the next. The mailman
kindly brought a 54 day bounce from The Atlantic Monthly
and the emailman brought a 256 day bounce from Adventures of Swords
& Sorcery. I reckon I'm just under halfway through the novel,
which means I'll not have it completed by my deadline (when I start work).
I will be making every effort to come close.
19/4/98
Nothing much to report usually on a Sunday, but I've just noticed that
Waver Emeritus Kurt Roth (the Rothweiler) has just sold a story to Pulp
Eternity. Way to go, Kurt. Too much oxygen in the brain is still
making it hard to think and hard to write, and ultimately quite snappy.
Instead I've spent the morning wandering around the WorldCon website sorting
out what I want to do for Baltimore. I've already checked things out with
my employer to be, and they're fine with me having the time off to be there.
This is a good thing. It'll be nice to catch up with a few folk and meet
a few new ones. Maybe this year I might try and do a couple of panels.
At least I'll be able to afford it this year.
18/4/98
Over forty-eight hours since I've had a cigarette. Before this last
couple of days. it was about 16 years since I'd gone a day without smoking
at least twenty cigarettes. Let's see if I can keep it up. Last time it
was a combination of alcohol and Brideshead Revisited that started
me smoking again. Not this time, though drinking is always dangerous. As
a result I'm feeling a little distracted and the writing is going nowhere.
Sitting down in one place for any length of time is fatal. I've managed
to pen about three hundred words, no more.
This morning saw a 57 day return from Playboy, this one
with a New York postmark, so the story made the cut. I thought it would.
The least they could have done was bought it...
16/4/98
An interesting and varied day. Received a 24 day return from Canadian
literary magazine B&A saying they wanted to see more
of my work. A useful commentary at 87 days from Aurealis
and a bounced manuscript from Age of Wonder stamped as undeliverable.
I wish these guys would sort out what their address really is...
Finished the short story today and sent it off for Next Wave critique.
For this one I'll wait and see what the commentary is before sending it
out. I'm not quite sure whether it's mainstream or horror or what. Whatever,
it's another dark little piece.
15/4/98
The drought has finally broken, not positively however, I fear. A 20
day return from SF Age a 12 day from F&SF
and a 60 day from Playboy with a Chicago postmark, so it
didn't make the cut. I also received a returned manuscript from Atlantic
Monthly after 121 days saying that their forwarding order had expired.
True, I'd sent it to the old address, so it goes back out again today to
the new address. At least they returned the SASE. I wrote 1,000 words on
a new short story this morning and about 2,000 words on the novel yesterday
and did some more thinking on where it's going. Time in the shower today
was full of the short story, so I had to get some of the words down.
Yesterday I sent off the signed acceptance of the job offer. All being
well, I will start work on 5th May. It will be interesting to see how this
impacts on my writing productivity. Until I actually start, the head space
is a little clearer, no longer having to scurry about looking for employment.
I plan to have a goodly proportion of the novel finished before the start
date.
12/4/98
Just returned from York. Caught a train up yesterday and spent the
afternoon wandering through the history and the chill. This morning I attended
the sung Eucharist at York Minster led by the Archbishop of York. This
was not out of any religious consideration, but because the sound of a
choir and pipe organ in a cathedral is a wonderful thing, particularly
when you can feel the weight of the years within a building that size.
I also purchased an ammonite (having recently finished reading the novel
of the same name) and three 1930s prints of fairy illustrations by Cicely
Mary Barker. More inspirational art.
On my return, I was greeted by two email returns from e-scape
at 26 and 76 days. Both with helpful and personable commentary. So, the
joys of technology supplement the snail-mail drought that exists over these
dread, barren holiday periods. Roll on Tuesday and normal mail deliveries
again.
Things are firming up on the job front. Looks like I'll be starting
paid employment some time next month. We shall see....
7/4/98
Uh-oh. (Hope this doesn't mean I'm turning into a Teletubby.) The last
day or so has had several short story ideas crawling around my brain, clambering
to get out. Feels like I'll be writing one or two short pieces again. One
mainstream return today, a 54 day form letter from Epoch
and a 5 day return from Altair. And...another couple of thousand
words on the book today.
Wonderful news in that fellow Waver Lynn Flewelling's novel STALKING
DARKNESS has been selected for mention in Datlow & Windling'sYEAR'S
BEST FANTASY & HORROR. Great stuff. These are good books. Go out
and buy them. Oh, and then read them.
6/4/98
Monday morning, another interview and another bounce. A 58 day return
from
Marion Zimmer Bradley's Fantasy Magazine with a variation
of the form letter I'd not yet seen. This was the "It's a perfectly good
story but I've just bought one like it," letter. I've had the start of
the next chapter on the novel running around the inside of my head all
morning, so I need to sit down and churn out some words before I do too
much rewriting without it being written in the first place..
4/4/98
He pauses for a moment to compose his thoughts, grinds the remains
of another cigarette into the ashtray and thinks briefly -- again -- about
giving them up. I've been traipsing all over the country for the last couple
of days doing job interview things. And instead of writing as much as I
should have been, I've been reading. I did an exercise a few weeks ago
of hunting out award-winning novels I hadn't read and ordering them. I
have managed to scribble a few more words on the novel, but nowhere near
enough.
This morning saw a 110 day rejection (form) from Ploughshares.
One day I'll sell a mainstream story. Yesterday and the day before brought
a 1 day bounce from Altair with news that another submission
had not made it there, a 16 day rejection from F&SF and
a 48 day return from Interzone. At least all the genre returns
have been friendly and personal.
News that Omni Online has folded brings further doom and
gloom. One day someone will work out how to make a web-based publication
viable, but until then, I think we'll see most of the commercial operations
die a slow death. The management say they plan to resurrect the print version
on a quarterly basis, but we'll have to wait and see. Omni
was one of the great standards I grew up with. I was sad to see it go from
print to web, but even sadder to see the current turn of events. Even reverting
to a print format, without Ellen Datlow I cannot see how it will
be anything like the same.
1/4/98
April Fool's Day and I wonder who's the fool. Two mainstream bounces,
one from The Paris Review at 110 days and a 9 day personal
from
Happy. Some very good news in the e-mail this morning.
Fellow Waver Devon Monk has sold her story "Probe" to Odyssey.
The Happy Squid lives. I'll let you imagine what this obscure reference
refers to. Well, we've got to have some secrets, haven't we?
One thousand more words on the novel this morning, so progress is being
made. Apart from the inevitable crisis of faith that cycles around from
time to time, I still want to get this book finished as soon as I can while
it's writing itself. It's a good sign when I stand in the shower or drift
off just before going to sleep and images of what's to come play themselves
out in my head. The internal cinema tells me I'm on the right track. The
rest of the week promises to be a bit of a trial with interviews and things.
31/3/98
The end of March and final figures are in. Thirty-three bounces for
the month and seventy-five for the year so far. Of the March rejections,
nineteen were personals, ten personalised form letters and three straight
forms. In that lot was one sale. Hmm, the ratio is holding up to be better
than last year's, but it's early days yet.
30/3/98
For any US readers, I'm afraid the Brit date format stays. It's been
a few days since I've had anything to report. This was in part due to a
semi mail strike and in part because of being occupied with real life.
The novel has progressed but little over the past few days. This morning
(finally) I received a couple more returns. One at 124 days from the Dark
Terrors anthology and another at 42 days from Asimov's.
The month's almost over, but already I've received over 30 bounces. Final
totals on the morrow.
25/3/98
I thought I'd become inured to the disappointment and frustration of
rejection, but this morning saw me opening an envelope and uttering a strangled
cry and doing the little frustration dance. The reason? A 92 day bounce
from
Interzone apologising for the delay because they'd considered
it not only very well written, but also a real possibility and they'd
spent some time passing it around. I'm proud of this story. It deserves
to find a home. Oh, and yesterday saw an 18 day bounce from SF Age
and a four day return from Altair. It's coming up to annual
competition time in the UK and I'm working out which of my mainstream tales
I'll be sending to the various competitions. Most charge a £5.00
entry fee for each story, but the prize money is in the order of £1,000.
Normally I make a rule not to send to markets that charge a reading fee,
but a competition's a slightly different matter.
23/3/98
This morning I watched my postman wander up and down our street talking
to himself. He delivered nothing, then walked away. Very strange. Perhaps
I'm becoming too obsessive about this mail thing. Finally, in the second
delivery, along came a 155 day bounce from Realms of Fantasy.
It was the dreaded blue form, as opposed to the yellow form which is the
good one. So, my query had its usual results, giving further weight to
my superstition. The story had garnered some pretty positive comments elsewhere.
including words such as "lovely" and "lyrical." Mutter, mutter, mutter.
A big wave of stories going out today, having sorted through the mainstream
markets.
21/3/98
Two for the day: a 17 day return from The Edge and a
five day friendly note from Talebones.
20/3/98
This month is turning out to be the month with the most bounces I've
ever had. This morning brought a 53 day rejection from Analog, the
usual personalised form. I guess this is in part a result of choosing markets
with the fastest turnaround. That way you get greater turn over of stories
and perhaps a closer indication of how many you have out there. Six went
back out today and another query letter. I'll perform the exercise and
tot up the ratio for the month once we reach month end. I've become slightly
obsessed with figures, having plotted the number of returns month by month
and the nature of those returns. March has blown out one of my theories.
Oh well. At least I seem to be gradually working up the tree. My ratio
of personals and personalised forms as opposed to straight form rejections
is about 85% for the year. But hey, I still realise a bounce is a bounce.
Despite becoming slightly deadened to the disappointment, I still can't
help looking for a glimmer of something positive amongst all those rejections.
19/3/98
Interviews last night and this morning chewing up more time. Some of
them looking promising. And on the story front, a 2 day and a 68 day return
from The Third Alternative. The second one was a "near miss."
And a 41 day checklist form from Aboriginal. Received the
1998 Novel & Short Story Writer's Market yesterday and last
night spent a few hours flipping through it. Some of the markets are already
dead (one of the problems with an annual publication) but there's a couple
of new ones there to try with some of the non-genre short stories I write
from time to time. I have to spend some time now weeding out the ones that
are useful, verifying addresses and making up a list of regular markets
to send to. Then I can update my submission grid, think about the suitability
of stories and mark the grid accordingly. It's essential to be organised
about this process or I'd have no idea where things are or where they've
been.
18/3/98
A 51 day bounce from The Third Alternative with a very
encouraging note. Still no cigar. The novel's progressing. Just about to
move on to chapter five. Just after midday and I've already written 1,500
words for the day. And the job thing is becoming depressing, rather than
progressing. Everything takes so long to happen and headhunters talk you
up then refuse to return your calls when they don't make progress. Why
people can't just be honest, I do not know.
17/3/98
Yesterday brought two bounces from Asimov's, one at 56
and one at 49 days. Also a note from the Writers of the Future
that I had not placed in the quarter's entries. Working up to querying
a submission that's been somewhere for around 150 days. The manuscript
is probably lost. When something stays at a market for so long, I begin
to have real hopes, but then when it drags on and on, those hopes dwindle
and resignation sets in. I've already queried a couple of places by e-mail
with no response, so the stories will go somewhere else this afternoon.
I've decided that once the end of the month comes, I'll archive these notes
and have a current journal for each passing month.
A 12 day bounce from TransVersions in this morning's mail.
As usual, an informative and useful critique. Fingers crossed -- the query
letter I was avoiding went off this afternoon.
And a final stop press -- an e-mail from Altair with a
one day snappy bounce. Useful and informative commentary on the story.
It was a story I'd sold before, but had killed the market. Now it can't
find a home. Funny how things work.
15/3/98
Just returned from Paris where I fulfilled one of my gastronomic dreams.
We stayed overnight and ate at La Tour d'Argent, arguably one of the best
restaurants in the world. (Well you've got to celebrate another decade
somehow, haven't you?) The place was established in 1585 and has been serving
notable and individually numbered ducks since 1890. The restaurant is on
the sixth floor, overlooking the Seine and Notre Dame. Truly spectacular.
And on my return, several bounces waiting for me from Saturday's mail:
a 120 day from bounce from Ploughshares, two from Tomorrowat
8 and 10 days respectively, and a 90 day return from Little Green
Men with a letter explaining that the market had folded. So, another
small-press publication bites the dust. This is one of the sad truths of
genre publishing -- most of the smaller magazines hang on just by the skin
of their teeth; as another one disappears, so does another of the limited
number of outlets for short fiction, and the odds grow longer.
13/3/98
Real life has been a little in the way, along with turning older and
job interviews and things. The past couple of days have seen a 33 day rejection
from The Edge and a snappy couple-of-day bounce from Altair.
As
usual, the latter was friendly and informative. I'm starting to consider
flying in the face of my big hoodoo, querying on over-long submissions.
I've become superstitious about queries, as all they seem to do is earn
you a quick bounce. When stories sit at markets long over their listed
maximum response time, it does become an issue. All this would cease to
be a problem if simultaneous submissions were acceptable, but as a rule
they're not -- one story, one market remains accepted practice.
A bad day for jobs, a great day for writing. Finished another chapter
on the novel and know where I'm going on the next (and possibly the one
after). But, the big news is that I received an e-mail this evening saying
Cabaret Magazine wanted to buy my story "Pfhhhht!" for their
May issue. Chalk up another sale for the year!
9/3/98
A 19 day rejection from TransVersions this morning. As
usual a friendly constructive note. The novel is proceeding, though not
quite apace. This week promises (ha!) to be a big week for jobs and the
like.
6/3/98
Arghhh! This expression best describes today so far. Four bounces in
this morning's post. A 95 form rejection from The New Yorker,
a 36 day and a 69 day rejection from Absolute Magnitude both
with the "Close but no cigar" box ticked, and a 47 day rejection from Interzone.
In the last one, he said that the story "lacked bite" because "no one got
hurt." We'll ignore the fact that the protag had killed his partner --
perhaps it was too subtle. He did say that the story reminded him of Malzberg
however, which is no bad thing.
And on the job front, got a bounce from a place I really expected to
get an interview for. The consultant who interviewed me was confident of
scoring an interview too. Ah well, rejection is part of a writer's lot,
no?
5/3/98
Today is not a good mail day, as opposed to the not good mail day when
nothing arrives. Three bounces. A 15 day rejection from SF Age,
a 15 days rejection from Tomorrow and a 45 day rejection
from Terra Incognita. Why is it that the lower you get down
the pecking order of publications, the longer the response time becomes?
That's not strictly true, but sometimes it feels like it. The same post
brought my copy of Sword & Sorceress XV containing a story by
fellow Waver Devon Monk, so there was some light within the darkness.
The novel is now 10,000 words up and things are progressing. I'm starting
to find things out about the story, just as my portagonist is. I should
now be able to get a few more thousand words out in the next couple of
days or so. Lots of phonecalls relating to potential job applications are
interrupting the flow somewhat.
3/3/98
An 8 day bounce from Brutarian. "This was beautifully
done; unfortunately we simply do not have space for this piece at the moment."
Rejections like this are immensely frustrating.
On the better news front, fellow Waver Devon Monk just sold a
story to Altair. Way to go, Devon and FTO! And yet more: fellow
Waver Lynn Flewelling just sold an article to Speculations.
2/3/98
Last night brought a 23 day bounce from Altair -- a close
but no cigar, and this morning a 10 day return from F&SF.
That brings it to three stories I have sitting in the holding tank which
I need to think about in the light of comments that have been made by various
editors. In a couple of days I should decide where they're going and if
I'm really happy with them (not that you're ever completely happy with
a story)
This week is going to be a big week on the real employment front and
its somewhat of a distraction -- interviews, applications and the like.
There are so many online recruitment services now that it's hard to sort
the wheat from the chaff.
27/2/98
Another no mail day. I am pleasantly cheered to see, however, that
fellow Waver Jason A Tanner and ex-Waver Kurt Roth have stories
appearing in the forthcoming Odyssey #3. And once more the chant
goes up: FTO!
This morning brings a 34 day bounce from Playboy. Chicago
postmark, so it didn't make the cut and get sent on to New York. If I'm
honest with myself, I probably didn't expect this particular story to make
it with them, but there's no harm in trying, right? At least the mailbox
drought has broken.
Yesterday I received my contributer's copy of Altair.
It's a very slick digest-sized publication -- looks good and I'm very pleased.
It's a pity they're not planning more than two issues a year. It's also
sort of nice to appear in an Australian publication.
The novel progresses, probably not as quickly as I'd like, but real
life things got in the way yesterday. I did manage to do quite a bit of
writing in my head, working out direction and playing out a couple of scenes
on the inner screen. All I have to do now is shape them with words. I should
finish the current chapter today and maybe even move on to the next. No
short story ideas pressing currently, which is probably a good thing.
24/2/98
Two days and nothing in the mail box, adding to the growing sense of
frustration. I'm starting to suspect that a few of my submissions have
fallen into the black hole where submissions often go. Unfortunately, I'm
kind of superstitious about querying. Maybe I'll let them sit out there
for a while longer. The mainstream markets tend to be worse than genre.
Though everyone complains about the average length of returns within genre,
in my experience they tend to be much shorter. I average about 45 days
for a genre submission (with some notable exceptions), where the mainstream
average is about 105 days. At least this game teaches patience.
Making headway on the novel, another couple of thousand words written
and I have a real sense that things are falling into place.
And more (real) job interviews on the horizon. Oh joy.
22/2/98
Well, things that have been working in my back brain for my current
novel are starting to come together. This is a good feeling when things
finally start to gel. I should be able to get down to some serious writing
soon. The last four months have been spent researching and putting some
shapes to the ideas. Now I can use the first chapter as a launch pad. Basically
there are two sorts of writers in the world, plotters and those who write
by the seat of their pants. I am one of the latter, letting the book itself
lead me where it will. This can result in hell during the revision phase,
but it also lets the book surprise you and maintains freshness throughout
the creative process. There's nothing more wonderful than the "a-ha" experience
when realisation hits.
I received a form bounce from Interzone yesterday, making
my 42nd short story rejection for the year. It's just no point trying to
work a market out or dwelling on it. The story will be back in the mail
tomorrow once I've decided where I'll send it.
I'm looking forward to the next couple of days when I should receive
my contributer's copy of Altair. I wrote a short story on
Friday which I've already shown to a couple of people. One of the comments
made by wonderfully supportive pro writer Colin Greenland (who really should
have a web page) was that thirty years ago I could have sold as many stories
like that as I could write. I think it's true. The face of the genre is
a very different and far harder thing today than it was thirty years ago,
or even twenty years ago. Still, it may be harder, but it's worth persisting.
RETURN HOME