Monday, February 07, 2011

Monday Update

Not much news on the writing front this week. I received another rejection in my email inbox last week. On the upside, it was a contest, and the publishers said there were 169 entries. Those are long odds for making it into the list of finalists. Of course, there's always the niggling question of whether I didn't win because there were that many brilliant stories entered, or if it was simply because mine stank. I'm holding out for multiple flashes of brilliance in the upcoming results.

I keep telling myself that all these rejections will eventually lead to one big acceptance. When I worked (briefly) in sales, we expected to get 20 sales from ever 100 queries. Let's hope that sales law of averages holds true for freelancing. At this point, one in five sounds like a pretty good average to me.

On a brighter note, I read a wonderful post on Write It Sideways. Julie Duffy's post, "Short on Mental Space?", spoke to me as a mom struggling to be a writer...or is that a writer struggling to be a mom? Anyway, if you're struggling for mental space, check out Julie's guest post.

That's it for this Monday. Have a happy and fruitful week!

2 comments:

Laura M. Campbell said...

I support the law of probability. If I keep entering contests and submitting my work for publication, eventually it will be accepted. Chances are there was a surplus of excellent writing. After an unsuccessful contest, I look back over my work and try to determine what I can do to improve it. Keep your head up and don't stop trying.

Andrea said...

Thanks for your comment and encouragement, Laura. You're right; it's time for another look at this story. I certainly won't stop trying...I recently published a story in an anthology after trying for ten years to find a market. I do hope they don't all take that long, though. Best of luck with your own writing!