Mystery...Romance...Sci Fi...Humor... The joy of writing fiction - meeting brand new people in places that don't yet exist.

Monday, April 18, 2011

Possibilities

Congratulations to Dru - winner of Friday's Caption Contest.  I've contacted Dru about her choice of prizes.  Thanks to all who commented and/or left captions.

I had a bit of a downer a couple days ago.  Received a rejection on a short story I'd submitted to a national magazine.  It wasn't the rejection that stung so much as the timing.  The submission guidelines gave a three month turn-around time on responses.  Mine took less than two weeks.  Evidently, the first person to read it gave it a thumbs down and immediately hit the 'send rejection' button (one of the drawbacks of electronic submissions).

Of course, I knew the odds of getting accepted were small. I really did. But I still hoped.  Anything's possible, after all.  That's when I realized it wasn't just the rejection that brought me down, it was the loss of possibilities.  When writers drop a submission in the mail or hit the send button, we enter that beautiful world of possibilities.  We could get form rejection.  Or it could be something else.  A request to see more.  A suggestion to change this or that and re-submit.  Even a "We can't use this but we like your writing.  Send more."  Or - joy of joys - "We love this."  Alleluia!  All these possibilities floating around the back of our minds, to dream about, to hope for.  A beautiful place to be.

Until that form rejection letter arrives.

I was looking forward to having three months of possibilites.   Two weeks wasn't  nearly enough time.

* sigh *

How about you?  Do you love living in the world of possibilities or would you rather know about things right away, good news or bad?

Best wishes to my Jewish friends on the beginning of Passover.  May your celebration be a joyous one.

I'm currently enjoying: Black Water Rising by Attica Locke

Groaner of the day: There was this guy who supported his local Little League team by making the bats for them in his woodshop. On game days, he would place the bats under a hedge near the street, and someone from the team would pick them up on the way to the ballpark.

One day, some Japanese children came to the guy's door, and asked if they might play in his yard they even offered him a Japanese dollar if he would come out and play with them. The guy agreed and joined them. He was having so much fun romping and cavorting with the children, that he completely forgot there was a game that day, didn't get the bats out, and the team had to forfeit.

The moral of the story is that if you ever get a yen to gambol, be sure to hedge your bats.

(Oh my Lord, that's awful.)
   

10 comments:

Cathy in AK said...

Congrats to Dru! I put my captions in, figuring it was too late, but couldn't help myself : )

Bummer about the rejection. I like to know right away. Though if it's taking a while, that glimmer of hope is precious.

RE: the groaner...Oh yeah, that was a bad one :)

Mary@GigglesandGuns said...

I hope you're over being down. Try somewhere else.
I would rather know than postpone the good news or the agony.

About the groaner -- You're right AWFUL. haha

Linda Leszczuk said...

Cathy - Thanks for offering your captions. I loved the first one (about the milk).

I guess I'd like good news right away but I'd rather hang onto to the hope than hear the bad.

Linda Leszczuk said...

Mary - Oh yeah, rejections are part of the business. It was just having it happen so quickly that threw me a little.

I'd apologize for the groaner but you know you laughed.

Arlee Bird said...

I guess I might like the idea of getting rejected more quickly than having to wait longer for a rejection. One rejection is as bad as another and just offers an opportunity to move on to other things. Of course, no rejections would be preferable.


Lee
Tossing It Out
Twitter hashtag: #atozchallenge

Dru said...

Thanks Linda.

bad groaner, bad groaner.

I love possibilities. Make that rejection work for you. Can you submit it elsewhere?

L. Diane Wolfe said...

A large portion of my life is chaotic because of what I do, so while possibilities are good, I prefer certainties.

Linda Leszczuk said...

Lee - I definitely agree with your last sentence. *grin*

Linda Leszczuk said...

Dru - That would be my first choice but I'm not finding a lot of markets for mystery short stories. Guess I just need to stay focus on the novel.

Linda Leszczuk said...

Diane - I think my order of preference would be good certainties, possibilities, bad certainties.