Just quickly, some Rejections 31/1/2011

"Halfway Between Asleep and Dead" rejected by Fusion Fragment.

"The Ten Thousand Steps" rejected by Giganotosaurus.

Now I have quite a few things that need revisiting or editing, and I'm feeling a bit snowed under.

meh.

Ready or Not, Here Comes Rejection 26/1/2011

"Twixt" rejected by Daily Science Fiction by form letter.

"Through the Open Door" rejected by Albedo One with kind personal feedback. Thank you AO!

At this point in the month, I'm holding on to some subs because a couple mags are opening their submissions in February.

Tiddles first attempt to write Hamlet: To be or not to be that is the q))))uh(pol#[p{{#11?@

The Asshole's Apology

[Strike where applicable]

Dear Offended Person,

It has recently been brought to my attention that I said/wrote/vomited an offensive comment about your race/culture/religion/size/gender/sexuality/queerness/disability/class/[insert combination thereof].

In the news story/opinion article/blog post/brain fart [insert network, website, name/title, link, date and time here for publicity push] I said/wrote/vomited [reinforce offensive words here for maximum impact]. I now regret these words because they could be construed as hurtful/my boss told me to or I'd get a slap on the wrist with a wet bus ticket/even bad publicity is good publicity/I want a spread in Woman's Day.

Though your experience is unfortunate and inexplicable, the harm infered from my words is seriously regretted as it was not my intention/I really am a thoughtless, privileged asshole/actually, I lie, I knew it was offensive and you offend me/I pander to my straight, white, rich, dudely audience/Come on, you're all Borgs right?/Oh my god can't you take a joke/everyone is thinking this deep down inside anyway/as you know intent is fucking magic.

Since I am a journalist/businessperson/politician/stud of some repute/want to continue getting laid/dudely dudebro of sheer awesomeness/know I'll be keeping my job regardless/your superior in every way/don't really give a fuck, I would like to take this moment to extend my regret at my thoughtless and careless words, and would like to reach out to you and your community so that we can come to a better understanding/I can use my privilege to force you into a teaching moment/I avoid further educating myself on what I did wrong/make you feel guilty about your anger/keep saying this shit in the massive media forum I have.

I would like to reiterate that I don't really hold this opinion because I am married to/friends with/family of said discriminated against minority, would never say these things to hurt them, and that I support charities/work in activism in their name/I'm really just a super fucking Nice Person holding a kitten and looking sad/appropriation rules!

In conclusion/because I've run out of bamboozling words/oh shit what am I supposed to really be saying, I am sorry you were offended.

Yours Sincerely/Kindest Regards/Yours In Dudely Awesomeness/Haha You're Still Gay/Get Fucked,

[Insert Saved Digital Signature Here]

Double Digit Rejection 21/1/2011

"Me Myself I" rejected by form letter from Strange Horizons.

This story has reached the awesome nadir of double digit rejections - this was it's tenth! The reason I keep persisting with it are a) I really like the story (well, duh) b) it's received two very favourable rejections from two cool magazines.

As much as I'm trying to stay positive about it, after a cluster of aftershocks yesterday it makes me feel rather flat.

Despite his best efforts, Fluffy was never able to make friends with the transparent cat in the window.
*sigh*

Writing: Denial

A couple of days ago I was digging around in boxes of old paper work and I came across some old receipts and correspondence.

They were from the two (at the time) of the biggest magazine publishers in New Zealand.  There were a few rejections, but mostly they were my acceptances and receipts for short romance story sales for lady rags Women's Day and New Idea.

Yes, that's right. Sales. In the plural. I thought I'd only sold two stories, but these receipts tell me I sold five. Yes, FIVE stories. At $NZ200-$NZ300 a pop. I earned pro-rates on my first sales. In the mid-90s.

Link-like Things 14/1/2011

• I'm pleased and proud that former Podcastle team mate Rachel Swirsky's writing career is garnering the attention it deserves. For more of her fantastic writing, check out "The Monster's Million Faces" available at Tor.com (trigger warning for scenes of sexual abuse and violence). Almost like a tag team for the story, Rachel did a blog post called "Writing and Mortality" over at The Big Other, about recognizing and balancing the priorities of writing as art versus being a job.
• After writing her "Freelancers Survival Guide" (available free online, and to buy as a print book), Kristine Kathryn Rusch is now writing a series of posts under the banner of "The Business Rusch". While always about the publishing industry, a lot of the blog is about that, or uses the publishing industry as examples. Just as her Freelancers Guide is a great handbook for writers, so too is this series of posts informative about what a writer needs to know to survive in the changing climate of publishing. Recent posts that have interested me were "Rapid Change" (talking about how the conversion from print books to e-books may move more quickly than anticipated) and "More about midlist writers" (and what the e-book revolution will mean to them).
• "Feminism Needs Better PR" by Jamilah Lemieux
  at Clutch.
• Rachelle Gardner at Rants and Ramblings tells us a story about "When Publishing Dreams Become a Nightmare". Just like any business, a good dose of reality can help show that being a writer isn't all kittens, daisy and sunshine! (via SFSignal)
• Here's a useful tip from The Other Side of the Story: "Wait! Back up: Protecting your writing files". I currently back up on to a flash drive, but having remote storage like Dropbox (of which I have an account) would be useful. Remember that panic when my computer crashed? Yeah. (via SFSignal)

Signed, Sealed, Delivered Rejections 12/1/2011

"The Ten Thousand Steps" rejected by Clarkesworld by form response. I'll give it to Clarkesworld Magazine - for one of the bigger online e-zines their turnaround on slush is exemplary.

"Polly Ticks" rejected by Shadows and Tall Trees by form response.

"Slingshot" rejected by Analog Science Fiction and Fact magazine. Even thought it was a form snail mail letter it was hand signed by editor Stanley Schmidt! That's class!

I have a philosophy about submissions sitting for a long time in slush piles:
The editor/slush readers are busy because they are a big name magazine;
The editor is busy because its a "for the love of" magazine;
They're taking the time to read my story closer.

Of the two snail mail submissions I made at the same time in December to two big name magazines, Fantasy and Science Fiction got back to me reasonably pronto, while Analog only got back to me now.

Ok, so the letter was actually dated mid-December, and the postmark was a week ago AND the US has been under blizzard conditions...and I KNEW this would be the reason...but hey, I'm allowed to fool myself just a teency eency bit to keep my spirits up.

That they got back to me at all is awesome.

NO. You may not see the wizard!! Now go away

On The Reading List, January 2011

As per usual, I have a huge stack of books awaiting me. All cover pictures contain links.

Old Year Rejections 5/1/2011

"Polly Ticks" rejected by Electric Spec by form letter.

"Me Myself I" rejected by Asimovs by form letter.

Both these rejections came just before the year ended, so I can (stupidly) say I have as yet had no rejections in 2011! Snerk.

I was ridiculously getting my hopes up about the Asimovs submission, and not because that story was on it's ninth pass through the traps. They took a little longer to reply, and I was all "Ohh! Maybe they're looking a little closer at it", when it was probably more "Hey, it's Christmas, things are a bit sluggish". Hey, a girl's gotta dream. One of these days I'll be published in Asimovs, and your little dog too! *shake fist*

I've been flip flopping between guilt and relief the last three weeks, because I haven't got any writing done. On one hand, it's been really nice to let the brain relax. On the other, I feel slowed down and lazy compared to many writers I see blogging and twittering about what they've been doing over the holidays. Another problem with taking an extended break from writing means I'm out of the swing of the routine, and I might have motivation problems getting back into it. Hey, I ALWAYS have motivation problems, so I don't know why I'd make it harder on myself. But I'm a masochist like that.

Procrastination cat will do it tomorrow