02.09.2008
I spent most of the day working on my edits for Skin so I could get it into Abyss & Apex for their February reading period. It worked out pretty well, if I may say so. I added about a hundred words to its final word count but they were good words that really added a lot to the story. I also removed about a hundred "had" and "that" repetitions, so even though it's slightly longer, it's also much tighter.
Anyway...
I went to the mailbox today hoping for some kind of response and, guess what, I got it. Yes, sir. Rejection number thirty-seven is in from Asimov's Science Fiction for Ayla Athena. According to the rules set forth this rejection came after twenty-six long, long days.
What they said was:
Thank you very much for letting us see your submission. We appreciate your taking the time to send it in for our consideration. Although it does not suit the needs of the magazine at this time, we wish you luck placing it elsewhere.
Sound like a form letter? Yeah... well... it is. But they're apologetic about it:
Please excuse this form letter. The volume of work has unfortunately made it impossible for us to respond to each submission individually, much as we'd like to do so.
Hmm... interesting...
They also, inexplicably, included the first page of the manuscript I mailed them. In writer terms, that's like getting the head of your messenger back in a basket with an apple in his mouth.
"Seriously," I said to myself. "You couldn't just kill him and send me his head? You had to stuff him like a pig first? Harsh, guys. Harsh."
(I could have taken that metaphor too far.)
I've had this theory that rejection letters come in three forms. They are, based upon the quality of writing or how much the liked the story:
- Bad / Didn't Like It - "Your story has been rejected."
- Okay / Had Good Elements - "Thank you for sending us your story. It has been rejected."
- Good / Honestly Liked The Story - "Thank you for sending us your story. It has been rejected. Please try us again."
This sort of falls between form letter two and three. And that, of course, assumes that these different kind of form letters actually exist and aren't just a figment of my imagination to see something positive in the aptly named "rejection letter."
Still, even without the personal response, I'm going to try them again. Next for them could be several things. I'll figure it out when I've got some more rejections to report and, thus, stories free to send elsewhere.
So... for those keeping score at home, this makes rejection total number thirty-seven. Rejection number four for Ayla Athena, rejection number three for the year, and the first rejection for Asimov's. I'm also still hovering right around three rejections per submitted story.
Cool, right?
Take care of yourselves kids. It's cold out there.