Rejected by Happy

As expected I heard from Happy today; and as expected, they rejected “Aftermath of War.” They really did get back in a week time. My rejection was simply as piece of paper with their new address on it and “Rejection Sucks.” There was also a very messy hand written note—I think it reads: “WJ Thanks This isn’t for Happy to see what we publish sample on internet.”

Quite a rejection forum. Not everyone is into that word; “sticks” would have been a better choose.

Oh, well time to get it ready to send to BigNews. They claim to have a two week response time.

Haruah Photos

I received bad news and good news from Haruah Wednesday before going to church. The bad news was that they were rejecting “Boundary Waters Sunrise” for use as cover art.

The good news is that they were accepting “Spring Marriage” for use as an illustration of the poem “my name.” They emailed me the proof and I ok’d it this morning, so I expect that my picture will be on their site shortly. I do hope that the poem and my illustration makes it into the first issue of Haruah. Right now there are five NoteBoreder’s who are being published in the first issue.

I’m so happy that my picture was accepted. Though I find it funny. I read the poem, “my name,” Thursday morning and that afternoon Dan took Anna and I out for a walk where he and a church man had ran that morning. It was a Catholic park and along some of the trail were benches with rosaries hanging on them. Seeing them reminded me that I was wondering where I would find one to take a picture for the poem. I looked around for a background and finding nothing I liked, I told my husband to take his T-shirt off. Using his maroon t-shirt for a background, I took the rosary off the bench and placed it on the shirt with our wedding rings. After putting everything back, I looked at my picture, but I didn’t like it—it was missing something. As we continued our walk I saw a long-leaved plant and then I knew what I wanted to do. I took a stem of the plant and when we walked back, I tried again. This time I added the green leaves and a few wild flowers to the rosary and wedding rings.

No, I’m not into rosary beads at all. I’m in no way Catholic and Dan isn’t sure about me submitting a picture of it. Maybe I shouldn’t have, but I so wanted to illustrate the poem. I like to take pictures and I remember thinking of becoming a photographer when I grew up. I know that I won’t, but I’ll still take pictures and I’ll continue to send some to Haruah for publication.

Another story out there

I have another story out there waiting to be rejected. This time I sent to a top paying magazine, The Pedestal. So, there really isn’t much chance of it being accepted. But hey, you might as well start at the top and work down—one never knows.

The story I sent was another flash fiction piece (under 1,000) words. The story is titled “A Mother’s Love,” and is about an aging, ailing woman’s last visit to the phych ward to see her only son. Before she goes she writes him a letter, telling him of her never dying love.

The Pedestal says they have a response time of 4-6 weeks. I’ll tell you what happens.



Submission update:
My photo, “Boundary Water’s Sunrise” is still waiting acceptance/rejection from Haruah.

My photo, “Spring Marriage” is also waiting acceptance/rejection from Haruah.

My flash fiction piece, “Aftermath of War” is still waiting acceptance/rejection from Happy.

My short story, “Life Goes On” is still waiting acceptance/rejection from Evangel.

My column is up!

It’s up! It’s up! My first column piece is up! I’m so excited. I am already working on my next book and have emailed a few missionaries to get stories from them as well.

"Life Goes On" is rejected again

The Banner was really quick. My story, “Life Goes On,” was rejected again. I only got a form letter from The Banner and no comments on my story. Many places don’t leave comments. Though we writers wish that they did. We want to know why they didn’t like it. Is there a major flaw with the story or it just didn’t strike their fancy. I found out early this afternoon and I mailed it out to Evangel shortly after.

I’m still waiting to hear from Happy with “Aftermath of War” and from Haruah with two photos.

Third Tries

Third tries.

I have resent “Life Goes On” to The Banner. The Banner is another Christian magazine. I don’t know what they pay or how long their response time is, but I’ll let you know either way. If I get comments much such as Haruah gave me, this one will go back to the drawing board.

My other third try is a photo. My second photo is still under consideration. That one is for a cover art. The one I sent today is for an illustration. Haruah has way for its members to see what stories and poems are coming up, so artiest can have the chance to submit illustrations for them. I saw a poem titled, “my name,” and my mind went to figure out how to illustrate it.

Today, while my family was out on a nature walk in a Catholic park, I got my opportunity to take the picture I had thought of. I’ll let you know if it is accepted or not.

Man, this submitting thing is exciting!

My First Story Rejection

Well, I got my first rejection letter yesterday. Haruah turned down, “Life Goes On.” Though I told myself that they wouldn’t accept it, I really thought that they would. Oh well, I gather from their comments that they thought that I started my story in the wrong place and they would have liked to see the teen’s whole range of emotions.

The thing is, is that I wasn’t after the full range of emotions. I wanted to keep the story short (under 1,000 words), because I thought I’d lose my impact if it was much longer. I think I’ll see if there are a couple of more places to mail this to and see what they say. If the feed back is the same, I’ll re-work the piece. The only thing is is that it is find to find Christian markets for short fiction.

But Haruah may very been correct as they are editors and I'm just a new writer.

“Life Goes On” is about a fifteen year old who has lost her mother and baby brother to a drunk driver, but these aren’t the only family deaths this young teen has had to go through. She has also lost each of her grandparents. After the funeral, she tells God that she hates Him and when Sunday rolls around, she doesn’t want to go to church. But because her dad’s will was so strong in going, she did and the Lord starts speaking to her heart through a Bible verse in Sunday school and the sermon. The teen struggles through out the beginning of the week as she wants to hate God even though she knew she shouldn’t. At Youth Group the leader finishes his five series lesson on Job and the teen finally breaks down and begs for God’s forgiveness.

I still have “Aftermath of War” in the mail, and I’m expecting a rejection letter from them as well.

Oh yeah, Haruah is still pondering about my photo. I gather that they like it, but they already have several sunset pictures already accepted. I knew that would be a problem when I resubmitted my photo. Oh well, bad timing on my part.

Second Submitted Story, first paying one

I was all bouncy yesterday morning. It was hard to stand still. I was so excited and I just wanted to bounce. You see, I mailed out my second story submission yesterday morning. I finally got “Aftermath of War” out in the mail. I sent it to a biyearly magazine called Happy. This magazine pays $.01-$.05 a word and they claim they have a week response time. So, I should know within a week of them receiving it, if they are going to accept it or not—most likely not. And their address is New York, New York, so it should only take a day or two in the mail to get there. This is the first paying market I have submitted to.

When it comes back as rejected, I think I’ll send it to BigNews next. I’m not really sure if it fits there, but they claim to have a two week response time and they pay. They are also based in New York City.

Then, The Literary Magazine, because they take email submissions.

Then, I’ll try The Pedestal Magazine, which claims to take 4-6 weeks to respond.

I will have to do more market search, which is a very time consuming thing, after this list. I have some leads, but I haven’t decided on any of them yet.

I’ll let you know what Happy says when I find out.

Column debut

My column, “In the Field,” should be posted at Haruah on Saturday, May 20th! I can’t wait! So, don’t forget to check it out a week from today!

I Submitted My First Story!

Well, I finally did it—I submitted a story! I was going to submit “Aftermath of War” back in October, but just haven’t put the final polish on it and sent it out. But that is not the one I submitted.

I submitted “Life Goes On” to Haruah. “Life Goes On” is considered flash fiction since it is under 1,000 words. Its teaser is, “Kristina struggles with her faith when her mother and brother die” or something very similar to that. This story started out as part of my novel that I worked on for NoteBored’s TriMo. However, with the rewrite there piece in the novel and this one really aren’t the same thing anymore—though the underlying story is there.

I submitted my story last night and there are sixteen other ones in front of mine—so now it’s a matter of waiting.

Waiting for my reject letter that is, because most people aren’t accepted with their first sub missal. But that’s OK, at least I submitted.

I have another story (another part of my novel) to polish up and submit to Haruah, but it will be a few weeks before I will get around to that.

I’ll let you know either way if Haruah accepted my story.

I'm a columnist!

I have a column! Yes, that’s right, Haruah, accepted my idea for a column. My column is titled, “In the Field” and its description is, “Stories about missionaries, evangelists, and pastors who cross cultural boundaries.”

The columns at Haruah seem to be pretty informal when it comes to submitting. We can submit pieces as often as we like. When we are ready to submit one, we log in and submit it. Then the piece has to be accepted. So, I have submitted my very first column write up.

My first entry is titled, “Jim and Roni Bowers: Missionaries to Peru,” and its teaser is, “The Bower family and their pilot were an hour from home when a fighter plane flew in behind them and opened fire.”

Would you like to read it? Well, go to Haruah and keep your eyes on “Side Notes” or just click on any column link and follow the path.

I’ll let you know when its accepted and when its posted—I’ll be too excited not to tell you!!

My First Photo Submission

Ok, ok, this isn’t about writing, buy hey I submitted something.

The new Christian magazine, Haruah, is accepting photos and paintings to use for illustrations and as cover photos. I wanted to send one, so I went to my old photo books and found a couple. The first picture I went was one I took in 1992 while vacationing in the Boundary Waters of Minnesota with my family. The picture is a sunrise over a wooded island. I have always liked that picture. In fact, I took the original picture to the Winona County Fair and won a State Fair Trip with it. At the Minnesota State Fair I received a blue ribbon.

To meet their size requirements I had to crop the picture down. The magazine turned it down because it was too blurry, but they liked the picture and I was invited my one of their editors to resend it.

So, I worked on it some more and I resent the picture this morning. Though I love my picture, I don’t know if it is good enough after seeing the pictures they have just accepted to use—man are those nice.

I don’t know if it is of quality to use now or not, but I’ll let you know either way if they accept my photo.

Column piece submitted

Well, I’ve been out of state for ten days. While Dan had work to do, I had free time. I wrote up my column piece, worked on a story to submit to the same magazine, read the Polished Stories Challenge stories I had printed up to take with me, and typed up some blog entries for my personal blog.

Yesterday, I submitted my column piece and it went to the editor of Haruah to see if I can come on as a column writer. I hope to hear back from them soon. I’ll let you know either way.