New submissions record!

I sent out another flash fiction story this morning (fingers crossed!) and I realized I have quite a few stories out at different markets. I was logging my latest submission into the Grinder (it’s vital to have a tool for keeping track of these things) and saw that I currently have six flash fiction pieces out for consideration. Plus I sent out one October 1 that was rejected, so that means I’ve sent out seven submissions this month. That’s a total record for me — I’ve never had so many pieces out at once before. Admittedly, they aren’t new stories; all of them are pieces I wrote years ago and either never submitted or sent out once and gave up. Still, it’s exciting to have so many stories under consideration — in many ways, getting published is totally a numbers game, so the more you send out, the better your odds are of selling one (or more). And you can’t get published if you never send anything out.

Here’s to trying, again and again.

Sending out the stories

letter-envelopeFellow writer Amanda C. Davis seems to be my main motivator for submitting stories this year. She’s great about sharing submission opportunities in her Twitter feed, and she mentioned one a couple of weeks ago that appealed to me, mainly because it was flash fiction (something I have a good bit of lying around in my writing archives).  As a result of her tweet, I dug out and polished up a couple of short pieces and sent them out for consideration. I also finished editing another flash story I’d been fiddling with and sent that one out too. I’m still waiting to hear back about the first two; the latter one, sadly, got rejected in record time, which dampened my sense of accomplishment quite a bit. But at least I’m trying… and trying unsuccessfully is better than not trying at all.

Schrödinger’s submission

letter-envelopeHaving stories sitting in virtual slush piles can be frustrating; in fact, it can drive you crazy if you let it. Waiting to hear back from editors can stretch on for what seems like forever. And while you wait, your manuscript is like Schrödinger’s Cat. Is it alive? Is it dead? You have no way to know; until you receive that response, the manuscript is still alive in potentia: it could be sold… but maybe not. Maybe it’s dead (to that market, at least) and you just don’t know it yet.

The best approach is not to think about it. But for so many people — newer writers especially — it’s hard to do.

A wiser, more accomplished author than myself recently tweeted that his wife said he was always, always on the web site The Grinder. I could relate, because at the time, I was checking it far too often myself. The Grinder is wonderful and terrible; it helps you organize your submissions, keeping track of what story is currently awaiting judgment from what market, and it shows you lots of interesting and sometimes helpful information, like when said market last sent out responses, how long their average response time is, and so on. But if you’re at all prone to obsessive thinking, The Grinder is not necessarily your friend. (I had it bookmarked on my toolbar until I realized that having it in plain sight was just feeding my anxiety. The bookmark is now tucked away in a folder where it’s not as obvious.)

So how do you deal with Schrödinger’s manuscript?

For a start, pick your markets carefully. Before you put your cat in that box, do your research. What’s the typical response time for that market? If it’s three months or longer, you want to know that before you submit and be mentally prepared for the wait.

Next, don’t make assumptions based on response time. Just because a market is holding your story longer than normal, that doesn’t mean they’re going to buy it. Don’t start writing your byline or mentally crafting Twitter announcements. Pick out some backup markets and work on new stories.

But don’t assume that cat is dead, either. Those thoughts will only get you down — and you’ll start getting annoyed at the editor for holding on to your manuscript for so long when you could be shopping it someplace else.

Really, it all boils down to keeping your mind off of it. Send it out and forget it; look for new opportunities, new inspiration. Start new stories. Live your life.

I realize that’s easier said than done, but right now, it’s the best strategy I have. If I think of something better, I’ll let you know.

Small steps

SproutWell, I doubled my submissions for March, sending out two flash pieces — the one that was rejected by Daily Science Fiction in February, plus a newly revised story I’d never tried to publish. I spent some time in February looking through old work and discovered a few gems that just needed a bit of tweak and polish, and this piece was one of them. I’ll continue to mine those older resources as I have time; it would be nice to resurrect the stories I still like and see them published.

I still haven’t heard back on either of the March submissions, but I’m keeping my fingers crossed! I’m bound to get a “yes” one of these days.