And it sucks!I had three short stories out on spec. All of which were supposed to have decision made before October 1st.
One: “The Bridge” the publisher pulled the plug on the project because…
“While many of the stories we received were incredibly well written, sexy and moving, we unfortunately didn't receive enough amazing stories to fill all seven books.”
So, “The Bridge” needs a new home, again.
Two: “The Rites”, didn’t make the cut but it was a long shot anyways. I dragged it down from a 4k story to a 3k story – which made it better in a lot of ways – nothing like severely limited word count to keep things tight – but there were many things that could have used more text to explain them. Sex and a complicated world both take time.
Three: “The Reunion” – haven’t heard yet but don’t imagine that is good… the editor on that project is usually very timely.
Hmmm… I’m starting to see a pattern in my naming conventions – but really I also have stories titled “Just His Mouth” and “3 AM” which break the mold… oh, and they need to find homes too.
This is the hard part that I don’t talk about here much. The grind that makes me doubt myself. Each of these stories was written for a specific collection on spec – and didn’t make it – then two were re-edited/written and sent out some place new where I hoped they would find a home.
Right now I’m in the process of redoing “Just His Mouth”, “3 AM”, “The Bridge” and “The Song’s Ending” all in the hope I can make them better, send them out into the world, and find homes for my orphans.
And don’t forget the novel I’m working on.
If the pain of these shorter pieces not finding homes is awful, just think how horrid the rejections on that are going to feel.
Okay, time to let the pain go… maybe do some yoga, have some breakfast, and get back to work. After all nothing worth having is easy… is it?
Licks!
