Can only recommend all the usual stuff: don't forget your notebook and pencil, read lots, and as widely as possible. And...as you get older, perhaps...don't be afraid to get used to hearing aids if needed to maintain the all-important Listening Skills!
Am I the only one starting to think it isn't worth the hassle? Half the mags won't accept submissions unless you've already been published, lots of them never bother replying and it seems like well known authors can write what they like, but the rest of us have to stick to the rules.
@ Carrie - I've had rejected stories accepted elsewhere, so I know thist is true.
@ Anonymous - It can be disheartening at times. If the situation is getting you down, maybe it would help to take a break from subbing to magazines for a while?
Never throw a story away. Stories that have been rejected can be revisited, rewritten, reframed and revitalised. Whenever I'm having a time in my life where worry or whatever has made it difficult to be creative I revisit my old rejected tales. So many of those stories have now been sold after, in some cases, over ten rejections. I've tweaked stories that have been squirrelled away for over twenty-five years, from the time when I first dabbled before forgetting about writing for twenty years plus. I've sold stories back to the same editor who rejected them. In fact my rejections are a great source of ideas to be eventually sold, integrated into a new story idea, or just something to work on when the creative muse is absent. Don't know what I'd do without them! Good wishes Kate Hogan
@ Kate - Thank you, that's very reassuring. I haven't been writing for as long as 20 years yet, so maybe there's hope for all my previously rejected stuff?
7 comments:
Can only recommend all the usual stuff: don't forget your notebook and pencil, read lots, and as widely as possible. And...as you get older, perhaps...don't be afraid to get used to hearing aids if needed to maintain the all-important Listening Skills!
Thanks, Penny.
Sometimes a reminder of 'the usual stuff' is a good thing. It's easy to get out of our good habits.
Never give up on your dreams as they could be right round the next corner! And just because one magazine rejects, doesn't mean another won't. :)
Am I the only one starting to think it isn't worth the hassle? Half the mags won't accept submissions unless you've already been published, lots of them never bother replying and it seems like well known authors can write what they like, but the rest of us have to stick to the rules.
@ Carrie - I've had rejected stories accepted elsewhere, so I know thist is true.
@ Anonymous - It can be disheartening at times. If the situation is getting you down, maybe it would help to take a break from subbing to magazines for a while?
Never throw a story away. Stories that have been rejected can be revisited, rewritten, reframed and revitalised. Whenever I'm having a time in my life where worry or whatever has made it difficult to be creative I revisit my old rejected tales. So many of those stories have now been sold after, in some cases, over ten rejections. I've tweaked stories that have been squirrelled away for over twenty-five years, from the time when I first dabbled before forgetting about writing for twenty years plus. I've sold stories back to the same editor who rejected them. In fact my rejections are a great source of ideas to be eventually sold, integrated into a new story idea, or just something to work on when the creative muse is absent. Don't know what I'd do without them! Good wishes Kate Hogan
@ Kate - Thank you, that's very reassuring. I haven't been writing for as long as 20 years yet, so maybe there's hope for all my previously rejected stuff?
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