acceptance – Eileen Troemel

This week I’ve submitted ten different articles / stories for publication. Two have been rejected, one has been tentatively accepted, and the other seven I probably will never hear about again. I wrote a rough draft for a new article I want to submit but I’ll have to see if I have time to get it in before the deadline.

I have at least two more publications I want to submit to before I start looking at other projects. However, I got an email from a publication which I would like to submit to for crocheting but I believe I would have to make the piece and send it in for this magazine so that may take a bit longer.

It feels good to get my work out there but I’m also prepping myself for the rejections that go with the submission process. I’ve done a submission for some greeting cards and a regional poetry contest. I’ve also submitted work to two other publications.

There’s always the hope that any of these submissions will not only get published but that I might also get paid for it. Income from publishing is rare and hard to come by but it is a rush of pleasure when I do get paid for my work.

I’d like to figure out the best way to track leads. I get a bunch of them but I either forget about them until after the deadline or I don’t get the piece done in time for the deadline. It would be nice if I could figure out a way to track a lead, when stuff is due, what I submit, if it gets published and so on. I’ve got a works list where I type in all the submissions I do but it doesn’t really fit the bill. I need to find the right tool which will help me be more efficient with getting my stuff out there for publication. I might have to create a One Note notebook to help me with this. I’ll have to think about it.

In the past I’ve had a paper copy of the articles with a post it on it to track when I submitted it. This hasn’t ever worked well. I’ll have to consider my options.

Midnight has hit. I should probably head to bed as I have to go back to my day job tomorrow. The writing bug has got me thinking about what I need to be a more efficient author though. I guess I could sleep on it and see what my subconscious comes up with.

I’ve been working hard on submitting a lot of work to a variety of places. I’m trying to build a following for my writing and getting all sorts of my work out there. It has been a lot of work and a lot of time spent making decisions on what poems to send where.

When I open my email I’ve been cringing every time I see a correspondence from one of these publishers. I think – can I handle a rejection right now. In my email last week I had five such emails where I looked at them and said I’m not sure I’m up to someone telling me my work didn’t make the cut. However, I must be a masochist or something because I said okay – I’ll open them.

They weren’t rejections. I am going to have four short stories published in two different places. I was surprised, excited, pleased, proud and a whole lot of other emotions.

Last night I avoided my email just because. When I finally sat down to my email I noticed a response from one of the publications I’d sent my poetry to. It was such a quick turn around I figured it couldn’t be good news. Still I opened it. It was a nice long email explaining how my work will be published and where it could appear. I was so excited. The only bad part is everyone was asleep so I couldn’t tell anyone.

I’m putting my work out there. I feel sometimes like I’m sending out bits of my soul to be judged. However, I try to remember that it is a poem or story. I like it and if others don’t so be it. Also it could very easily be that it isn’t that they don’t like it but that they didn’t have room for it or that the story was good enough but didn’t fit with the rest of the stories / poems for the issue they were working on.

Rejection is hard. It is hard to put yourself out there. However, you have to remember if your positive the work is good (not just your opinion but others as well) then keep trying. Probably only one or two in ten submissions get accepted (if that). It doesn’t mean you aren’t a good writer. It just means that it didn’t fit.

As things become available I’ll announce where I’m getting published. I can’t wait to see my work in an ezine or in a paper copy.

Tag: acceptance

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