Tuesday, March 31, 2009

End of March already!

If you put one foot in front of the other, eventually you will walk all the way around the world (or at least, from one coast to another). Likewise, if you think of the week in terms of "regular day, long day, regular day, day off, regular day, short day, day off," eventually March will be over and you're standing there thinking "What happened? When did it get to be April?"

I had a drab March. One acceptance ("God of Worms" which will appear April 28 in Every Day Fiction), and one last-second rejection (today). The rejection was for a story I quite like and I don't understand why no one else seems to think it's hilarious. This editor said it seemed too short to explain everything, especially since my trolls and elves were so different from the "standard" trolls and elves. I guess this tells me two important things: 1) study the lord god Tolkien closely and then never deviate from his teachings, and 2) even a 700-word story inspired by a pun can be taken too seriously.

No news on the agent front. My year-to-date agent rejection total is 8, with six pending queries (although two of those queries are to agents who only respond if interested, and one is to an agent who has apparently fallen off the face of the earth and isn't responding to anyone, including her clients). I still haven't heard from the agent who requested a full from me last fall. I expect to get a two-line "personalized" rejection for that one eventually, what do you want to bet?

My God, I sound bitter, don't I? It's this awful rewrite hanging over me. I don't think there is any way to fix that damn story, and I don't even want to try. I'm tempted just to withdraw it with apologies to the editor, but I can't do that (long story why).

Anyway, so I am still running a pretty decent acceptance/rejection ratio for the year, with three acceptances and six rejections. I have three stories out right now (four if you count the rewrite request), one novella, and one novel. And I'm working steadily (if slowly) on Little Sparrow, which I like very much so far even though it's turning out to be a real bitch to write. But I like a challenge, when it's novel-length!

10 comments:

Jeremy D Brooks said...

33.33333% hit ratio isn't bad...

K.C. Shaw said...

All those threes make me feel important.

Jameson T. Caine said...

Sorry to hear that the time travel story is turning into a real life horror story. I'd be more than happy to return the beta reader favor and offer my worthless 2 cents.

And what's so wrong with unusual Elves and Trolls?

K.C. Shaw said...

I swear, I'm too embarrassed to let anyone see the time travel story. The writing is okay, but the plot is so floppy that I think it may be the worst story I've ever written since my abortive first efforts at short stories several years ago.

Cate Gardner said...

Your acceptance ratio is outstanding. And at least you have queries out there, I am desperate to get back to the world of agent no's. :)

Jamie Eyberg said...

Wow! I wish I had that track record this year.

Ditto what Jameson said. I can be a beta reader as well.

Unknown said...

Cheer up, you can do it. I can sympathize, however. I have three first drafts of three different stories I've been stuck on since February, and I refuse to write a new one until I figure something out.

word verification is "antho". Hmmm. A sign of good luck?

K.C. Shaw said...

Cate--From what I hear, agents are absolutely swamped right now with queries. I think this is a bad time to try and get an agent.

Jamie--If I had more stories out, I'm sure my hit ratio would not be nearly as good. It's about to go way downhill too, since all my good stories have sold. :)

Jeremy--I was invited to submit this time travel story, as a tie-in to Jack of All Trades which is being released about the same time, so I HAVE to get this awful thing to work. Ordinarily I'd cut my losses and withdraw it, and never think of it again.

Aaron Polson said...

Rewrites build character. Having said that, I hate them too.

Good luck with it all. It will come together, I'm sure.

K.C. Shaw said...

Thanks, I hope so!