Rejections

This week I have received three rejection emails, and I have to say that it does sting. Mainly because it makes me question whether I'm actually any good (which makes the evil little voice of self-doubt inside my head rejoice at this new validation of its existence). I've started analysing my "weaknesses" to see how I can improve in future. I've also eaten two entire Easter eggs over the course of a weekend.
Rejection is as much a part of the writing process as the writing itself. I know this. I normally try to stay positive; I actually have a "rejection letter" folder where I store all the letters and emails and view it as a sign of achievement. Stephen King used to do a similar thing, only he had a nail in the wall where he'd pin his.
I suppose even the most positive people can have their off-days though, so maybe it's because I got three in a row that it has hit me a little harder than usual.
Rejections aside, I have started the rewrite of Matti (working title), which in this draft will be aimed squarely at the teen market. I think I'm also going to have a go at writing Dorcas Grubb at the same time, and just see how it goes.
Anyway, now I hope you don't mind but I'm going to go back to wallowing in self-pity for a while.

Ho-Hum

Another rejection email today. When it rains, it pours, right? I'm about at the limit of how much my optimistic attitude can take, so I'm off for dinner tonight with the boyf to cheer myself up.

Sigh.

I have started working on something new, which has the potential to become a new novel. I think I'll wait though until I'm in a better mood to tell you about it.

Hmm

I ended last week with yet another rejection. This one admitted that they hadn't even read my story, which I'm quickly learning is actual common practice amongst 'zines. Surely though, if you don't have time to read submissions, you should close your slush pile for a while? And this was from a magazine where I noticed that in their last issue, there were two stories written by the same person (who wasn't the editor or on staff or a "famous" author). Fair?
Anyway, so I did what anyone else would do - I sucked it up and sent my story out again to a different magazine. I'm going to get this story published if it's the last thing I do!!
Urgh. Having a crappy day. Going to go home later, drink hot chocolate and watch America's Next Top Model.

Editing

I'm feeling a bit down today. One, because I got an email yesterday saying that one of my stories was rejected from a magazine, and two, because on my way to work today I went arse over tit and fell over in the snow. Was very embarrassing (and painful).
Editing Inter Vivos is time consuming and not very exciting. It is good when you get to a part of the story where you suddenly find yourself swept away by it, but those moments are few and far between, and most of the time I'm rewording clumsy sentencing, or else cutting scenes altogether. Chapter one has had to go entirely, which has meant rewriting half of chapter two to make it make sense.
Sigh.
Anyway, on a positive note, I've an idea for a story but I don't know really where to start with it, and whether it might be a short-story or a novel. It is set on a dying Earth-like planet, where the rotation of the planet has stopped completely, and most people now live in the shadowy part along the world's equator, sandwiched between freezing cold and boiling hot. I haven't written anything yet, but I think it might be something I work on in the future.

Rejection

Well, I didn't get accepted for TWP's 'Playwright's Studio'. I don't know whether it's me or my work that they don't like. Sometimes I wonder whether I'm wasting my time, but then everyone on the forum's been really nice to me and have come up with some pretty persuasive arguments, so perhaps not. It would be nice if people at TWP would just say what they mean, rather than talking jargon and flat pleasantries all the time. I say, call a spade a spade, I can handle it. In terms of my playwriting, it's time to go back and reflect on my work so far, and identify things that could be improved, etc. I mean, I've not done too badly for myself, considering I've only ever written two stage plays. Mental note: Must do better in future. I've also not heard from two jobs I applied for before Christmas, so that on top of my TWP rejection is making me feel a bit shite.

Seb's too loved-up to write and I'm so anti-living things at times I can't even bring myself to buy a goldfish because I can't be doing with its ever-presence.

At least today's almost over.

I'm Back!

After a successful run of 'Titanic the musical' and after the chaos of fresher's week, I'm almost back to my old routine, which means I'll have time to write again! I'm currently getting geared up for the 'National Novel Writing Month', which starts on November 1st. My friends and I are going to try to write a 50,000 word novel each before 30th November - sounds like fun, so I can't wait! I've decided I'm going to write about Nox (see previous post 'My own gothic princess') and have provisionally titled the story 'Inter Vivos'. It's already caused some controversy, as I've labelled it as 'science fiction' and one of my male friends either a) doesn't think it classifies as such or b) doesn't think a girl can write sci-fi. Anyway, you can follow my progress at: http://www.nanowrimo.org/userinfo.php?uid=124755 (username Grizabella).
So, what else has been happening in my week away? Well, I got a rejection email from pulp.net about a short story I had submitted, which I'm not too bothered about, as I wrote the story during my lunchbreak and it wasn't that good. I also got a rejection email from Paines Plough after I sent them my still not completed copy of 'Red and the Wolf'. I'm awaiting their feedback, but I think I've come to the decision that I'm not going to progress with 'Red'. I did enjoy writing it and think it is well written, but I also think that the subject matter is not original enough, and so no amount of editing/rewriting will change that. I may come back to it later, but I think that for now, my energies are better spent elsewhere. So I think that's about it for my update. Did you miss me?
Lucy :-)