I didn’t really close out December in my previous message, so let’s do that now.
Writing Conferences/Workshops/Classes:
None attended this month. I did receive a copy of Beginnings, Middles, & Ends, by Nancy Kress, for Christmas that I’m looking forward to reading soon.
Finished:
First draft of the new novel is finished. It’s rough and will need some real editing work come January/February because I workshop it later in the Spring/early summer.
WIP:
No current works in progress beyond some short stories I’ll get back to in a few more days.
Outstanding:
12 short stories and 1 novella on submission currently. Longest time is 236 days to Galaxy’s Edge. I’ve notified them that I would like an update by January 7th or they may consider the story withdrawn and will begin submitting it elsewhere. While I hate doing that because of the worry of simultaneous submissions, the number of times they’ve failed to respond to requests for updates over the past two months forced me to have to make a business decision on this. I haven’t heard from them since September 15th when they emailed me and said “the editors will get back to me in thirty days.” Since then nothing but crickets. I will likely not be submitting to this organization again anytime soon given this result.
This is a business, folks. Remember that. It’s not personal, and neither is my decision to withdraw the story. I’m sure their lack of response isn’t personal, but it speaks to difficulties with organization on their end and I have to do what’s best for my business, which is writing and submitting stories and building a career. As writers we are expected to be professional. For example, we must follow submission guidelines. If we don’t, we’ll be rejected without a read. This has happened to me before, and I didn’t take it personally, I understood that the fault lay on my end. Both sides need to put their most professional foot forward whenever possible, follow guidelines, and be responsive to communication when deadlines have past.
The remainder of the stories are growing long in the tooth as well. Next longest out is 153 days, but that organization has responded with an update recently to my inquiry. Most of the rest have long lead times expected, or have given updates on their schedule. There are a few I should be hearing back from soon, though. The shortest length of submission time is 7 days, followed by 34 days as the next shortest. The holidays are a tough time to wait on submissions, so be aware of that. People are busy, and response times do tend to creep up.
Submissions:
Three submissions this month, all of them the same story (was rejected twice).
Rejections:
Two rejections this month, story resubmitted (edits made after the first rejection given the quality of the personal feedback they provided).
Acceptances:
No acceptances this month.
Goals for January:
Begin edits of third novel. Start working on new short stories. Complete at least two shorts by the end of the month, and the first half of the edits to the novel.