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Everybody's In A Hurry?
Thursday, 17 December 2009 23:04The End Of The Year Rush
Don't know what's getting into everybody in the SF short fiction biz, but after months and months of quiet, I've gotten 13 results in the last 30 days. To put this in perspective, today I sent out my 285th submission (off to Asimov's in case you were wondering, and I received my 275th decision yesterday (it was a rejection -- you didn't even have to ask). I started submitting stories to markets in June 2002, so that was 90 months ago. That translates into a little over 3 submissions and 3 results a month on average. So you can see that 13 results in 30 days is a bit over the average.
Maybe the markets are trying to make up end-of-the-year quotas or something. You know, pad the statistics. Whatever. So far I've completed 60 stories *** and have managed to keep things juggled in the air so I always have something out there. Right now I have 10 stories out to market -- which makes mathematical sense, as 285 - 275 = 10. (whew) And in the last 30 days I've sent out 10 submissions. So... if I hadn't been able to keep sending things out, I'd have nothing out right now. (ouch!)
*** Of course 13 stories have been published, two in Greek, so I have 60 - 13 + 2 = 49, so actually I still have 49 stories to select from for particular markets. Less the ones which actually suck and I haven't sent them out in a while. (grin)
Meanwhile...
I'm in the middle of the Fall 2009 Grade-a-thon and something is making me miserable regarding post-nasal drip and so I don't have time to be writing right now. And yet I'm filling up bunches of notes with ideas. Frustrating? Not really. I'm still making progress plotting out the GRG Project. Better that than a complete dry spell. (grin) In fact, when I'm super busy I often get lots and lots of ideas, faster than I can write them down. (double-grin)
Nuts And Bolts
Yup, the glorious, glamorous life of the SF writer. Keeping track of what stories have gone to what markets -- my "Invenstory" -- and which stories can or cannot be sent to particular markets. No wonder one sometimes gets a little nuts about stats. In lieu of selling everything or working on spending a big seven-figure book advance, one has to be a little bit creative in figuring out how well one is doing.
Actually, I'm doing pretty well, thank you very much.
And if I wasn't a bit creative, I'd not be able to write anything worth buying. (grin)
Dr. Phil
Don't know what's getting into everybody in the SF short fiction biz, but after months and months of quiet, I've gotten 13 results in the last 30 days. To put this in perspective, today I sent out my 285th submission (off to Asimov's in case you were wondering, and I received my 275th decision yesterday (it was a rejection -- you didn't even have to ask). I started submitting stories to markets in June 2002, so that was 90 months ago. That translates into a little over 3 submissions and 3 results a month on average. So you can see that 13 results in 30 days is a bit over the average.
Maybe the markets are trying to make up end-of-the-year quotas or something. You know, pad the statistics. Whatever. So far I've completed 60 stories *** and have managed to keep things juggled in the air so I always have something out there. Right now I have 10 stories out to market -- which makes mathematical sense, as 285 - 275 = 10. (whew) And in the last 30 days I've sent out 10 submissions. So... if I hadn't been able to keep sending things out, I'd have nothing out right now. (ouch!)
*** Of course 13 stories have been published, two in Greek, so I have 60 - 13 + 2 = 49, so actually I still have 49 stories to select from for particular markets. Less the ones which actually suck and I haven't sent them out in a while. (grin)
Meanwhile...
I'm in the middle of the Fall 2009 Grade-a-thon and something is making me miserable regarding post-nasal drip and so I don't have time to be writing right now. And yet I'm filling up bunches of notes with ideas. Frustrating? Not really. I'm still making progress plotting out the GRG Project. Better that than a complete dry spell. (grin) In fact, when I'm super busy I often get lots and lots of ideas, faster than I can write them down. (double-grin)
Nuts And Bolts
Yup, the glorious, glamorous life of the SF writer. Keeping track of what stories have gone to what markets -- my "Invenstory" -- and which stories can or cannot be sent to particular markets. No wonder one sometimes gets a little nuts about stats. In lieu of selling everything or working on spending a big seven-figure book advance, one has to be a little bit creative in figuring out how well one is doing.
Actually, I'm doing pretty well, thank you very much.
And if I wasn't a bit creative, I'd not be able to write anything worth buying. (grin)
Dr. Phil
