Another Positive Rejection

Is there such a thing? One thing I've learnt over the past year is that aspiring writers need a thick skin. You need to become a glass half full type of person.

Take this as an example:

I sent off my current baby "Too Late the Rain" to Nossa Morte, where it was pretty quickly rejected.

The bad side of this was that it was rejected - again.

The good side was the response. Below is the email I received:

Thank you for your submission to Nossa Morte. Unfortunately, it will not be appearing in our issues.We hope to receive more work from you in the near future.

I have included the editor comments for your consideration:

This wasn't bad. Well written; nice voice. The premise just didn'tblow me away, and there were some plot holes that prevented me from really getting into this one. It was unclear how or why Jed had shot his sister. I didn't get the sense that there was any real animosity between him and her ghost. Was it an accident? Was it done on purpose? Was she bitter? I just couldn't get a great read on the characters and their relationship and so it was hard to get immersed in the tale. A good effort though, and I'd be happy to read more of your work.

So - out of this I gained that my mechanics of writing has improved as has my ability to convey the way I want to write - my voice. I have also had requests from other citiques for more fore-story to explain a few things so today I wrote up the missing bits. "Too Late the Rain" has grown by another 918 words. That's almost 100%. I believe the story now depicts the relationship between the main characters a lot better plus it explains, by showing the reader, why they end up in the situation they do.

I feel even stronger about the piece now. I have sent it off for critique at Critters although this tends to take an age, so I've applied for membership in another, more intimate crit group. Stay tuned for more on this in the weeks ahead. If it all goes well then I'll be singing the praises of another forum/website.

Tonight I did a final version of my latest assignment for my course. It includes an amusing article I had to write according to structure. Some way down the track, this may get published to the Musings website. I haven't had any feedback yet on previous assignments so I'm tempted to hang onto this one for a day or two more.

I have applied for membership at AHWA and suggest any writers of the dark side do the same. At only $25 for initial joining and a poultry $10 a year there after, it is more than worth it. I'm lucky enough to be getting it as one of my birthday presents.

Well, this has turned into another of those really long posts, so for those of you still reading, thanks for making it this far.

Good Luck with your submissions!