Wish I May, Wish I Might
11/7/09 11:13pm ~ Blah blah blah & QuotidianOutstanding Submission: 19
Rejections: 3
These are dark days, friends. Today I received a personal rejection from Willow Springs whose editors enjoyed the story but passed. I received a form rejection from Los Angeles Review. They read my work with interest which I think is a funny thing to say but I get it… a very polite way of saying we respect all submissions but yours was excrement. I may be exaggerating that last bit. Finally, I entered one of my short story collections for the St. Lawrence Prize. The semi-finalists and finalists were announced and I was not on either list. It would have been nice for the publisher to actually notify entrants but I guess the $25 entrance free doesn’t guarantee a response.
Do I sound bitter? I’m not, really. I’ve just received many rejections as of late.
I’m at a real loss as to what to do with my short story collections. One, Ayiti, was recently rejected from Rose Metal Press. They were so kind about the rejection—it just wasn’t quite a good fit. Ayiti is a collection of stories and poems about Haiti and the Haitian diaspora so I think it might have been too… ethnic for them. (I don’t say that with any bad feelings. Rose Metal is a wonderful press.) I don’t know. While I don’t think it is a perfect collection yet, I do think it has real potential. I need to figure out how to fix it but there’s nothing I can do to make it less ethnic, you know? Are there any independent publishers who don’t mind such intensely thematic writing? When I see what’s being published, I really worry that there just isn’t a place for a collection like this to find a home. It’s a real bummer. This is temporary. I will shortly gain perspective but right now, I feel defeated.
My second collection, There Are Things I Need You to Know, is my more mainstream writing, short stories and very short stories and I love this book, I do. It’s about 60,000 words long. I have no idea where to send it.
I am lost. I need a compass or a bright north star.
Roxanne,
I don’t know what just happened. If you end up getting two comments from me I’m sorry. I just read “La Negra Blanca” in the Collagist. It was great. It made me jealous that I didn’t write something like that. Only, I couldn’t write something like that at this point in my life. Maybe one day. Maybe never.
I, too, am going through a trying period of rejection after rejection. Quickly heading toward 200, maybe more. But then, I’ve been working on that number for twelve years now. I have published a story in a pretty credible journal, North American Review, but it hasn’t given me the street cred I had hoped. I also won a grant early this year, something I thought was pretty amazing. But I don’t know if that’s getting me closer reads or not because the form rejections seem to come just as often as before.
I’m living in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates, right now. We came here because my wife got a job teaching English in the public schools. Right now, I’m jobless, looking for work in the Middle East. I’m so tired of working shitty jobs that I’ve kind of told myself I’m just going to write for a living even if I have to write hack work to get by. So far, I haven’t picked up any work. I just started looking last week, though. In the meantime, I’m going to keep writing fiction and, I hope, more essays and journalism and lists and letters to the editor or what have you. How much does it cost to keep up your website?
Good luck. You deserve it. I just read another blog entry from http://wardsix.blogspot.com/. October 18, 2009. I think it’s pertinent to your latest entry. I hope you enjoy.
Steven Tweddell
Thanks for your comment Steven and I’m glad you enjoyed La Negra Blanca. Rejection is so tough. That’s why I talk about it. The North American Review is an amazing journal but in my experience the only cred that matters when you’re not a big name is the quality of the work you’re submitting. You should definitely keep writing. My website costs about 100/year, very affordable. I actually read the Ward Six entry you mention, and it is indeed very interesting and pertinent to my lament here.
When one loses direction, just plow forward. Often causes me to have a sore head, but at least I’m moving. When one is moving, one is not directionless.
Next week you’ll write a post about some spectacular acceptance you just received or the press that read your post and asked to see your collections. Just you wait. You’ll see.
I want to school with Diane Goettel from Black Lawrence. I can kick her in the shins for you. Ayiti sounds great… what abt City Lights?
Hi Roxanne,
I’ve not had the pleasure of meeting you, but I’ve read many of your stories and have even checked out your blog several times.
I think it is wonderful that one your collections is “ethnic” and has a specific theme. You may feel frustrated searching for the right home for it, but look at it this way, when you do find the market that truly appreciates the work – they will most likely promote it whole-heartedly and it will definitely stand out in the crowd. The collection that is harder to place may also be the collection that has the most original voice and isn’t easily pigeon-holed.
I wish you luck placing it and the other more mainstream collection.
You mention you feel down sometimes, because of the frequency of rejections you receive, but I’ve seen your name on Duotrope so often for acceptances – you are a celebrity in my eyes. I dare say you’ve received more acceptances in the past six months than many writers have received in six years. You are doing fantastic!
I’m a fan.
Sincerely,
Paula
HI Paula,
Thanks so much for your kind response and offering much-needed perspective. I am quite blessed as a writer and I do need to remember that even during these interminable spans of rejection. My best to you!
Hi, Roxane,
I’m new to your website. It’s a brutal business, submitting our writing. This may make you laugh: I once did a several-submissions-back-and-forth correspondence thing with an editor thru several rounds of my poems. I decided that #5 would be my last.
I’ll always keep the letter he wrote back: “The problem here lies not in the technique but rather the tenor. As an editor I have made it my position to publish only work that indicates in some way that life is worth living, that existence is a positive process. These writings of yours that I’ve seen do not…etc…”
I can be grateful, I guess, that readers were spared. !??
Also, this: In graduate school one professor did a talk called “embracing rejection.” He has saved every rejection slip he’s ever received. He was repeatedly rejected by one journal, which, after several years, turned around and asked him to become the Editor.
It’s a whacky process. Sucky, but inot without humor.
Hi Helen,
Thanks so much for your note. I am learning to accept/embrace rejection. More often than not, I try to use it productively, finding ways to improve my work but then there are those bad spells such as the one in which I am currently mired and then I lose sight of the benefits of rejection. Glad you want to use La Negra Blanca in your class. I am truly honored.
I can’t but I can believe the story of your back and forth with the editor who only wanted to send hope and light into the world. I fear he would find all of my writing inappropriate. As you say, it is likely for the best!
i got my la review rejection yesterday, too. it must be rejection season again. i’ve garnered eight in the last four days.
and i feel your pain about not knowing where to send stuff. i have a novel that’s still out to about a dozen places. but i have a couple weird novellas that i have no clue where to send. every place i want to send them isn’t accepting unsolicited manuscripts.
fun, this writing thing.
It is definitely rejection season. I’m pretty damn over it.
Roxane, check this out:
http://www.uipress.uiowa.edu/books/2009-fall/crucet.htm
Brilliant, beautiful collection of “ethnic” stories. They’re obviously open to things like that. I, personally, would be first in line to buy your book. I’m crazy about stories that give a glimpse into an unfamiliar culture.
Hi Yvette,
I actually own this book. It is amazing. I’m definitely going to enter the UIowa contest next year.
Hi, Roxane,
I printed out and read La Negra Blanca…wow. I’d like to use this story in a CW class I hope to teach next semester.
Keep the faith!!!
Hi Roxane,
Keep at it. Rejection’s par for this field’s course, and I see your work everywhere — really, it’s impressive! And rare, in case you don’t know.
Take care,
SL
Hi Sarah. Thanks for the perspective. You take care too!
This doesn’t really help your publisher hunt, but I like this post as I am very interested in:
a. your writing, and
b. Haiti;
so I’d love to see these two things combined. If you do find a publisher then I’ll be buying the book. Are any of the stories available online?
Hi Kirsty,
A couple of the stories are available online. Motherfuckers is at decomp: http://www.decompmagazine.com/motherfuckers.htm and Things I Know About Fairytales is at Necessary Fiction http://necessaryfiction.com/2009/05/things-i-know-about-fairy-tales.html. Another story is in the print magazine Weave and the rest are making the rounds.
If and when I place this manuscript, I will let you know!
I was also going to suggest City Lights.
I will check out City Lights. That’s a good recommendation.
the juniper contest which is run through umass and umass press has a wide aesthetic. the contest is closed for this year, but next year, you should check it out. esp. for the haiti book, maybe?
Thanks for the info, Jensen. I will definitely check this out.
just claim you are giving up writing for good and then come back into the fold with a (vestigal?) tail b/w your legs. works great.
Hi David. I have never felt the need to give up writing or announce I’m giving up writing because whenever I’ve had those urges, I’ve known it was temporary! Maybe I will try it, though, and see what happens.