Another photo illustration accepted

Well, apparently I can’t write, but I can take photos. I have another photo accepted at Haruah as an illustration. This illustration is titled “Water over Rocks” and it is going to illustrate J. M. Munsil’s poem, “like water on stones.” J. M. Munsil is the founder and owner of Liberty Hall, a very good writing site.

Mr. Munsil had a total of three poems accepted by Haruah lately and I’m illustrating one of them. There is one more that I would like to illustrate, since it is named after me (“for Mother’s Day Joy asked”). Last year I asked my NoteBored friends if anyone would be interested in writing a poem for me to use the church bulletins. I only had two write me one, and one of those two were Mr. Munsil. Not only did he write a poem, but he placed my name in the title—how cleaver. The only thing is I don’t know what to send as an illustration and I might be running out of time to get one in with our move and everything.

Great Reject Letters

After a heart breaking rejection from Haruah, I decided to give it another try. So, I sent “Aftermath of War” out to four more magazines. In about six hour’s time, I got the following response from the editors at Bewildering Stories.

[quote]
...First, it's a very touching story and very well told.

...I like the quality of the writing. I'll await Jerry Wright's opinion.

Regards,
Don Webb, copy editor
[/quote]

[quote]
I second Don's opinion on the quality of your writing.

The story is quite moving. However, I question whether Bewildering Stories
is the appropriate venue for your story.

I note that this is a simultaneous submission, which is NOT a problem for us, but I must tell you that we are primarily a magazine of speculative fiction, or of stories that have some speculative, or "slipstream" element.

And of course in addition we publish experimental and mystery fiction that we find enjoyable.

So you see why I feel we really aren't the right place for your story.

Don may wish to accept it simply due to the quality of the writing, however, which
is certainly acceptable to me.

--Jerry
[/quote]

Wow, even though these were rejections, they were wonderful rejections. They have me encouragement and even made suggestions on how to make the story stronger. All authors crave feedback like this. So many times we just get a form reject letter, something like “sorry this didn’t grab our interest.”

But the upbeat news didn’t stop there. I also received this from them as well:

[quote]
Jerry Wright expresses my feelings exactly: I agree that you may find another publication better suited for a story like "Aftermath."

Let's make a deal, so to speak. If the other publication you've contacted does not accept the story, please review the story in light of the points I raise in my acknowledgment -- I think the ending needs more support than it gets -- and let's talk about it.

...A "happy ending" is practically a breath of fresh air.

Don
[/quote]

Wow! I have emailed them and let them know that if they are interested, I’d re-work the story and if they accept it, I’d pull it from the other magazines. I also let them know that we are in the middle of packing for our move next week.

Don wrote me back and told me to re-write it after the move and that they might be interested. Since I asked for other places that needed work on, he gave me some. It feels awesome to get writing feedback from an editor!

Bracing for more rejections

I got tired of one rejection at a time, so I looked for places that allowed simultaneous submissions and emailed “Aftermath of War” out last night to four different magazines. Actually, I just wanted to get it out there to see if anyone would accept it. So, I’m now waiting rejection emails from Bewildering Stories, Gambara, The King’s English, and Plunge.

Two more rejections

Two more rejections for me. Boy writing can be discouraging.

“Life Goes On” has now earned three rejections. This one will be pulled and worked on some more. I don’t know what to do. Should I rewrite it and take out the Christianity, since I’m out of Christian markets? But that is the main part of the story.

Haruah has rejected my second story I sent them, “Aftermath of War.” This one is the real bummer. I really thought that they would take it. The funny/depressing thing about that one is that they said that I have a good start and I should get some crits on it and polish it up. This story is the second challenge story I wrote for the NoteBored and I got comments then. I worked on it and worked on it. I then submitted it in the Polish Stories Challenge and got more comments and worked on it more.

I’m thinking that I’m not cut out for this. I have so many things I like to do and I can’t do them all.

I still have one more story out there to be rejected. “A Mother’s Love” is still out to The Pedestal.

Second Column Piece is Up

A few days ago I worked on another column piece and I submitted it. To my surprise when I woke up this morning, I found that my new piece is up at the magazine’s site. This piece is about an experience Amy Carmichael had while she served the Lord in Japan. If you got a moment, stop by and give it a read; it’s under 500 words.

"Aftermath of War" out to Haruah

“Aftermath of War” came back from BigNews. I apparently send it to the wrong address. I found another address and an email address. I resubmitted my story via email and it came back to me as a bad address. I tried to call them, but was only able to leave a message with a receptionist (who has never called back). All of this and their website, which I know I been to, is down.

Not sure if BigNews is still in operation, I went on down my list. When I did that, I realized that the web address for The Literary Magazine wasn’t working either. And since I already have one story at The Pedestal, I couldn’t send another.

So, I ended up sending “Aftermath of War” to Haruah. I decided to send it there because I wanted another shot and because the youngest daughter in the story is based upon my own daughter. I have taken pictures of my daughter illustrating my story. Now I just have to wait and see if Haruah accepts my story and if they do I need to pick a photo to send them to see if they will accept it as well.


I still have “Life Goes On” out to Evangel and “A Mother’s Love” at The Pedestal.