Rejections are In

So, the big news. Finally got a response out of Poetry Magazine. It was a nice little rejection letter. So there are now four poems that need to move out to the next possible location. Not quite sure where to send them next, but I think "Arrogance" would kinda work in Aasimov's Science Fiction, "Tinted Mirror" would work well in Necrology, and the other two, "Invisible Eris" and "Two Days", may not quite work anywhere.

Some may take rejection as defeat. I take it as a necessary evil. If things weren't rejected, we'd never be able to get non-serious writers to pursue something else. You gotta have a tough skin to write. That's not a secret. I know that I've had some poetry published in the past, and I know that it's been a while since I wrote poetry with much commitment. I expect to have a lot of places reject my work before anything is accepted. A few successes here and there couldn't hurt any though.

Since I was rejected, I've finished the first draft of a new short story, "Tactical Medics", and am about six drafts through a fresh poem, "Ignorance." The short story, is a bit of a fun slap in the face. I'm pretty excited about the first draft, but I won't be getting too far ahead of myself. I want to give it a couple good thick edits before turning it over to the Underground Writers on October 1st. That'll give me feedback for October 15th, and I can clean it up and maybe submit it somewhere (On Spec ?) for November 1st. I'm saving "Ignorance" for my next set of 4 poems to ship out to Poetry Magazine, which I also hope to be able to do on November 1st.

Speaking of work in progress. The Underground Writers currently has "Bloodspurt" in their hands, and I'm sure they'll be ripping it up good. I've already read through a few of the pieces that I need to have done for Thursday. One of them is absolutely fantastic, the others are pretty good starts of which I hope to read more. When I get "Bloodspurt" back, I'll know how much time I should really be editing that piece. I'm sure its a lot. With a bit of luck, I should be able to send it out for the beginning of October, but that may be optimistic given the piece itself.

Dug up a couple of fantasy pieces I started a couple years ago, and I think with some work, I can finish them and get them sent out somewhere. I'm betting on Tales of the Talisman for one of them, but figure it won't be going out until the new year. With National Novel Writing Month sitting on the horizon, I won't be putting words down on anything but Hedged in November. Still have some time this month I suppose.

Anyhow, enough writing in the form of procrastination. I need to turn my writing to one of my WIPs. Good luck everyone!