Rejected but not cowed
Oh well … I kind of suspected that the stuff I sent to Poetry London wasn’t going to blow Colette Brice’s socks off. So another sad little SAE plops on my doormat, tell-tale thin. Must do better!
Never mind, I shall blow the dust off, maybe do a little tweaking before trying them elsewhere. (I have a sonnet at the moment that I’m quite pleased with, but it does contain the word ‘erection’ in a context that could be seen to be gratuitous, so perhaps needs a little work.)
Ambit still have some poems of mine in their intray, which I sent back in May, so I’m starting to wonder if they ever arrived, as 4 months seems a tad slow, even for Ambit.
So I need to get some other stuff off. Do it, woman, and stop talking about it!
Then there’s Saturday’s workshop with Mimi Khalvati looming… I don’t want to waste her time or mine by presenting something half-hearted for workshopping. Do I get out the Poetry London rejects and find out exactly why one of them didn’t make the grade? Do I chance the ‘erection’ poem and hope I don’t blush when reading it (there are men in the group)? Do I try to write something new in the next couple of days..? Ack.
how this resonates. I’ve just had five back from The North (very kindly) but I always have 20 out to 4 or 5 mags. I wish those SAEs were not so recognisable, although I have had an acceptance in a SAE which nearly went in the recycling unopened. 4 months? A friend had hers returned after a year.
yes, do it woman.
I’ve had several back from competitions over the last few months. I haven’t submitted to a magazine for a while but I’m accumulating my comp rejects and would like to ‘power them up’ into a strong submission. Thanks for sharing your rejections as well as your successes. It’s OK to send a note/email somewhere if you haven’t heard in 4 months – when it’s that long my hopes would be rising….
Meg – gosh, you have 20 or so out at any one time? That’s impressive. Good to always have something else still on the horizon though.
Josephine – maybe I will drop Ambit a note. I don’t like to bother editors though, I know they have huge piles of stuff to deal with!
Thank you both for commenting x