Sunday 12 October 2008

Lost in Space

Himself and I returned from our trip yesterday and it was fantastic. We had a marvellous time and it was just what he doctor ordered.
I have returned full of vim and pep and the urge to get on with writing projects. (If anyone knows what vim and pep is I'd love to know.)
Before my holiday I'd sent off a query email to a magazine that have had two of my stories since the beginning of the year, asking them if they were still under consideration. To my dismay when I checked my eamils yesterday there was one from them saying that neither story was in their system and would I submit them again. I did that but I fully expect to get a standard rejection email from them this week. I think that some sub editor forgot to do that before they deleted my stories. I'm not being defeatest about it just realistic.

8 comments:

Amanda said...

Keep positive, Gonna Be! They could be accepted. I always tell myself that if they are still out there - there's still hope!

Pat Posner said...

Glad you had a good time, Gonna Be, and glad you've returned full of v&p!

Use some of the v&p for positive thoughts about the magazine stories.

Colette McCormick said...

Thanks for the pep talk you two. I will try and be positive. I suppose that there is a chance that were actually lost and so were never considered. Like you say annie, while they're out there, there is still hope.

Anonymous said...

I'm glad you enjoyed your break. I think "vim and pep" are roughly "energy and enthusiasm". Not sure which one is which.

Regarding your lost subs, two things seem to come together to make this sort of thing happen: Occasional lack of professionalism on the receiver's part, and a certain timidness to communicate on the sender's part. We may not be able to fix the first problem, though we could be less tolerant of it albeit for no gain to ourselves. The second thing we can fix though. I think we need to be more assertive about the fact we are engaging in business (or potential business) with these people. Things getting lost just does not cut it. All we have to do, is to check with them that they received our submission - nothing more. I would advice against any kind of pestering, but a simple polite request for verification surely can't do any harm.

Something to bear in mind for future submissions, perhaps. Good luck with your current and future ones.

Colette McCormick said...

I wish I could be more assertive in these matters. I hate feeling that I am hassling editors who are very busy people. But then I think to myself that I'm a busy person too but i like to think that I do my job properly. (After the meeting I had with my boss this afternoon they might not agree.)

Kath McGurl said...

Vim was some sort of scouring powder you used to clean your bath with! Good luck with the resubs and good to hear you are all fired up.

Anonymous said...

I didn't mean hassling the busy people about whether they've read/accepted/rejected it. Just to verify whether they've received it. Perhaps that wasn't clear.

Colette McCormick said...

No No captain, I understood what you meant but maybe I didn't explain myself properly. Hassling was probably the wrong word but I don't know what the right one was (it is quite late and I have had a glass of wine.)