Another rejection, as if the title weren’t clear enough on that. Not much to say. There was a note, but nothing too detailed. So I’m sending it somewhere else.
Anywho!
Book Review: Start Finishing by Charlie Gilkey (2022)
May 20, 2025
No Comments
Sometime near the end of the Spring semester, I decided it was time to take another crack and reorganizing my life. I’ve gone through years of on again / off again burnout, some of it my own fault (I’m disorganized and try to do too much) and some of it a consequence of things about which I have no control (my former university essentially bankrupted itself, forcing me to find a new job in my field, and I’ve since moved twice — the short version). All that burnout and overfilled plate-ism has made it harder to keep up with grading and find the energy to complete tasks on time. So it seemed only logical to use my university library privileges to borrow a variety of recommend productivity and project management books to see what advice, systems, etc. are out there.
9 Responses
Why/what was rejected? I'm new to the blog.
My short story entitled "Artemis." Sorry if that wasn't clear :P.
I don't know if it's a good thing to post these rejections. I never do personally.
My theory is that if an agent or editor reads your blog, they'll see you getting rejected all the time, which can't be good for perception (even though it happens to all of us).
Rather, just post your acceptances
Jordan, I don't think it would look bad to an editor if he went on your blog and saw that you were getting a lot of rejections. It means that you are prolific and have tenacity to keep trying. This is what any person would know!
BTW, I had a rej myself today and the editor had no time to comment on any of the billion submissions they reject each day.
christina,
If all you ever post are rejections, an editor might assume that you are prolific and determined… but producing crap.
I'd rather an editor believe that I was less prolific, but producing nothing but gems. It's a perception issue.
Jordan: Bradbury had over 800 rejections before his first publication. I'm not particularly bothered by rejection. I keep writing, keep submitting, etc. Plus, not all of my stuff has been rejections. I have two honorable mentions in WOTF :P. That's good stuff to have.
I get your point, though. I suspect that at some point I'll stop doing these when it becomes overwhelming. Right now it's manageable, but pretty soon it's going to be impossible to keep updating without flooding my blog :S.
True enough about Bradbury and others. However, they didn't take out classified ads in a national paper to advertise that fact, did they? 🙂
Honorable Mentions in WotF are certainly an accomplishment, and there's no doubt that you can write, judging by the quality of this blog. Otherwise I wouldn't bother commenting on it. 😀
But you know that most reputations are built mainly of smoke and mirrors, right? Reality is ugly. Why broadcast it?
Because people need to face the fact that even good writers get rejected (assuming I'm good, obviously). And it sets an example, I think. Some folks get all butthurt about rejections. I clearly don't. That's a good thing, I think, and if a few new writers take after me and realize that rejections are just part of the publishing game, then that's for the better.
To each his own then. Keep up the good work.