After (I’m guessing) over 50 rejections, I have finally received an acceptance!! Puerto del Sol accepted my story titled, “The Flight of Wings.” (I was ecstatic when I saw the acceptance rate of this journal on Duotrope is 1.08%.) This is the story that made it to the final round at Missouri Review, as well as received positive comments and feedback from Hayden’s Ferry Review. I feel I owe some gratitude to the feedback I got from them because I revised my story again after their rejection, and that final piece was what was accepted by Puerto del Sol. I really appreciate the time some editors take in letting you know why a piece is rejected, ultimately. I also give thanks to my husband and fellow writer, Janet Freeman, who both raised several questions about the piece which ultimately led me to a better version. I am happy!
I also want to mention to those who write works about India to submit to Out of Print. They are a fabulous online journal “for writers of short fiction with a connection to the subcontinent.” The editor-in-chief Indira Chandrasekhar has a story in the current issue, which is definitely worth a read.
I am to my month-end political due diligence. Though I don’t mention much of it on my blog, I am a big letter writer. When I see a problem, I immediately need to send a letter. I find that is pretty effective. So this month I am sending letters to Target about their reusable bag policy (which as far as I’m concerned is not a way to conserve the environment, but a ploy to get you to buy THEIR reusable bags), and Silk, the makers of soymilk, for their gimmicky advertising. You know I go straight to the source. I address the letters to the chairmans and CEOs. Most of the time I get a phone call if I include a number. It really does work, and I feel I am active in the cog. If I don’t get a response from Target, I will start a petition to get them to alter their policy (long story, of which I will not bore you unless it goes nowhere).
I entered my MFA thesis into the Amazon Breakthrough Novel Award. At first I was going to enter my current novel, Amit’s Ability, which is in no way done. But then I thought–heck, let’s try something. I’ll enter my thesis, The Goju Story, which at the time of completion seven years ago I thought was “done,” and see how far it gets. It’s an experiment, and at least I won’t be heart-broken if it doesn’t advance very far. I don’t imagine it will. Some of the writing is very juvenile.
I have also been following up on review copies of After the Tsunami that I’ve sent to online journals. I’ve gotten some responses that they just haven’t gotten to it, but mostly I’ve gotten no responses (which I’m guessing means they did not want to review it). I wish they would at least respond. I mean, I’m not a millionaire. It costs money and time to send those copies out. My friend Eirik, who is also a writer, told me this would happen (based on his experiences with his novel), but I didn’t want to believe it! I wanted to have faith… sadly, I still have faith, but at least I can be real about it.
This must be the blog post of links galore!!
And onto the last part of my entry: rejections. Generic ones from upstreet, Brevity (my last essay had made it to the final round. I thought this one was better, but I guess not!), and McSweeney’s Quarterly Concern. But these don’t bother me because I have an acceptance!!! Yayayayayayyyyy!!!!!!!!!!
