Four Rejection Friday

First my deodrant tries to blind me - it wouldn't stop squiriting. It obviously thought I stunk. And then I hit work and there are two rejections in my inbox. I growled - more because I hadn't had my breakfast yet - and concentrated on all the lovely blog comments from the previous days post.

Then I decided to have a sneaky peek at my emails in the lunch hour (only I don't get a lunch hour so technically I was being bad) and found two more rejections. I may have pouted. I definitely had chocolate.

Anyhow, I then cheered up when I realised I would have to spend a wee bit of time this evening (okay an hour) searching Duotrope for the perfect markets to send the stories out to. Plus I edited one thanks to the wonderful (and talented) Ms. Buburuz's comments. This meant I didn't have to stress over the rewrite of Strange Bones. See, there are always silver linings.

I've changed the title of one of the stories from 'Ugly Duckling' to 'Glass Coffins', and tried not to panic that two of the stories ('Glass Coffins' and 'Lazarus Jones' Creep Carnival of Corpses') are zombie stories. And darn it, zombie stories without any science in them so I couldn't cheat and send them along to Dead Science.***

I also sent one of the stories out to Clarkesworld, who have super fast reply times and a fun new tracking system so you know exactly where you are in the queue. Maybe I should retitle this post 'Five Rejection Weekend'.

***My 'Dead Science' story Irish Roots, an Arsenic & Lace style comedy about a boy staying with his grandpa who decides to help his grandpa by making his own weed killer (I think we all know what's hiding under those weeds), has kind of stalled at the gate. No panic, there's 4 days left to sub... Erm, gulp!

If at first you don't succeed...

How things stand at the beginning of Day 13...

Okay, we still have three very important gaps to fill but I've slipped behind with a) adding new projects that weren't originally planned (though in all truth I didn't expect to write stories for the entire list - my cape is in the wash), and b) fighting the rejection plague by trying the same market again. Okay, I've only done b) once so far (give me time) but I am tempted to try Dark Jesters again. The tentacles are out though - I don't do tentacles very well at all. There is a definite lack of cthulhu in my reading past and I very nearly did a story about octopuses!!! Wipes sweat off brow and thanks the internet god for wikipedia.

So that's 2 acceptances, 2 hold requests and 3 rejections and a lot of anxious waiting.

The Book of Tentacles - 'A Strange Artificial Light' - 2311 words - submitted - rejected
Cinema Spec - 'Ugly Duckling' - 1434 words - submitted - on hold
Dark Jesters - 'Uncle Eric's Leather Bound Tale' - 1803 words - submitted - rejected
Footprints
Mother Goose is Dead - this antho is now full - I was too late!!!!
Clockwork Phoenix 2 - Trench Foot - 2780 words - submitted
Infradead
Catastrophia
Hotel Guignol - cheated & sent 'Frog & The Mail Order Bride'
Potter's Field - 'Hand Scratched Note' - 2052 words - submitted - rejected - cut to 1550 words - submitted to Postscripts - accepted
Trying Potter's Field again - Lazarus Jones' Creepy Carnival of Corpses - 2050 words - submitted
The Morrigan Ezine - 'Curious Robot' - 854 words - submitted - hold request
Apex Digest Election Horror Competition - 'Nobody Smiling' - 613 words - entered
Northern Haunts - 'The Restoration of Purple Curtains & Other Things' - 605 words - submitted - accepted.