Last night I decided to submit a story to Fantasy magazine. It was a long shot, but I think the story’s good so I figured, ‘Meh? Why not.’ Reach for the stars, and all of that.
**Fast forward 10 hours**
In my inbox this morning, a personalised rejection email from Fantasy magazine waited to be read. Now that’s what I call a fast turnaround!
(A *little* lump formed in my throat when I read the email. And then I snapped myself out of it by adding another layer to my Writer’s Shell of Imperviousness.)
The story’s already on its way to a different magazine.
On a happier note, I finished a draft of ‘Singing Breath’ last night. All told, it’s come in at 5,800 words (my goal was 5,500 or less, so I’m pretty happy that I came close to the mark. Editing will *hopefully* axe out extraneous words and bring the count down…) I’m going to circulate it amongst my group of very reliable readers tonight, and we’re going to pick it apart this weekend.
And I’ve realised that I’m going to set myself a goal for at least one of the stories I write at Clarion: make it shorter than 5,000 words. I have managed to do it (OK, so I’ve managed to do it once. A 3,500 word story, which is currently being held by AV at Weird Tales for a ‘second reading’, which I sometimes thinks means that she hasn’t had a chance to read it yet) and I plan on doing it again. Many times, in fact. So there you have it. The gauntlet has been thrown.
Lisa L. Hannett 
Chin up! The advantage is that you were able to get it on its way to another potential home! đ Otherwise, there are the weeks and months of waiting, waiting, waiting :-). But don’t give up! Keep sending to ’em until they accept something!! xx
Thanks xo (*chin lifting*)
And you’re right. It’s definitely better to know sooner rather than later. If only the “We love your story and want to publish it” emails would come as quickly! đ
Oh I know, I know. đ