A Week of Writing: 3/29/21 to 4/4/21
First week of April and I’ve got good writing news to report.
Words to Write By
This week’s quote is one I’ve used before, but I like it, so I’m gonna use it again. 🙂
“I would advise anyone who aspires to a writing career that before developing his talent he would be wise to develop a thick hide.”
—Harper Lee, WD
After enduring a three-month rejection streak, my hide is a bit thin but largely intact. The point here is that writing will test you. It’ll test your resolve, it’ll test your patience, and it’ll test your confidence. At every level there are challenges, from folks sending out their first submissions to multi-award-winning bestselling novelists and everything in between. Every writer has scars from the dozens if not hundreds of rejections, the bad reviews, and the countless revisions. Thing is, and I’ve said this before, scars make calluses. They harden you, they thicken that hide Harper Lee is talking about, so that you CAN get through the difficult stuff and emerge a little tougher on the other side.
The Novels
Nothing new to report here. Still waiting for the publisher to get back to me on Late Risers, and I’d guess I’m looking at at least another four months there. I’m full-steam ahead on commission work, so the revision of Hell to Play is postponed until that’s done. I do have one other novel that’s about a third of the way done, and I started picking it at last weekend. I need to stop that. The work in progress always looks better than the work that’s, uh, MORE in progress.
Short Story Submissions
Pretty decent week of submissions. No complaints.
- Submissions Sent: 3
- Rejections: 3
- Acceptances: 1
- Publications: 0
- Shortlist: 0
- Pending: 11
- 2021 Total Subs: 29
Three submission is a solid number, but the big news is that I got an acceptance. That ends my rejection streak at 23, which is four short of my record, and I’m just fine with that. I’m sitting in 29 submissions for the year, and that’s a good pace. Essentially, I want to average about two submissions a week. I’m well over that so far. Obviously, I’d like more acceptances, and hopefully April will make up for a pretty abysmal first quarter in that department. I finished writing a new story last week, so that should help me get my submission numbers up (hopefully, my acceptance numbers too).
Night Walk
My flash fiction collection Night Walk & Other Dark Paths is available for preorder in print and digital through Amazon. If you’re so inclined, just click the cover below.
I’ve started a new feature on the blog called Night Walk Wednesday, where I give you all the rejectomancy stats on individual stories from Night Walk. There are two posts in that series so far. You can check them out below.
Goals
I want to send out more submissions and make headway on my commission work.
That was my week. How was yours?
Effectively Wild – A Baseball Horror Story
Night Walk & Other Dark Paths
Acts of War: Flashpoint
Acts of War: Aftershock
Acts of War: Stormbreak
Aeryn Rudel's Rejectomancy 