Aeryn Rudel's Blog, page 22

A Week of Writing: 3/22/21 to 3/28/21

The final week of March has come and gone. Let’s see how I did.

Words to Write By

This week it’s another quote from Elmore Leonard.

“I don’t judge in my books. I don’t have to have the antagonist get shot or the protagonist win. It’s just how it comes out. I’m just telling a story.”

– Elmore Leonard

Defying expectations in your books or short stories is a good thing, and I think that’s essentially what Elmore Leonard is saying. The hero doesn’t always win and the villain doesn’t always lose. In ...

Submission Protocol: New Story Strategy

I recently finished a new short story, and what I like to do before a send a shiny new word baby out on its first submission is strategize a bit to make sure I’m maximizing my submission efforts. I do this by looking at four market elements to create a submission road map for each new piece. Those elements are:

Fit: Simply, is my new story a good fit for a market? Is it the right genre, and if it is, is it the right sub-genre. What I mean by that is I write horror, but I rarely write anything th...

Night Walk Wednesday: The Big Picture

Hey, folks, this will be the first post in a series where I discuss the stories in my upcoming flash fiction anthology Night Walk & Other Dark Paths, which will be published by The Molotov Cocktail on 4/22/21. What I aim to do with these posts is tell you about a story in the collection–why I wrote it, how I wrote, and so on–then, because this blog is called Rejectomancy, I’ll give you all the submission stats on the piece. How many times I submitted it, how many times it was rejected, and my re...

A Week of Writing: 3/15/21 to 3/21/21

Another productive week of writing. Here’s how I did.

Words to Write By

This week’s quote comes from Ray Bradbury.

“You have to know how to accept rejection and reject acceptance.”  – Ray Bradbury

Since I’m still in the middle of a rejection streak (21 and counting), I thought another quote on the subject couldn’t hurt. Far be it from me to put words in the mouth of the great Ray Bradbury, but here’s what I think he’s getting at. Obviously, accepting rejection is part of the gig. If you don’t ...

Rejection Feedback: Love It or Leave It?

Personal rejections that include editorial feedback are a valuable part of selling your work, and they can tell you a lot about your story and the publisher. Such feedback can be an important element of revision or it can improve your submission targeting, but should you always listen to feedback? Good question. Let’s look at three feedback scenarios from rejections I’ve received and see if we can answer that question. (As usual, I have removed bits from the rejections that could identify the st...

A Week of Writing: 3/8/21 to 3/14/21

Last week was equal parts productive and frustrating. Let me break it down for you.

Words to Write By

This week’s quote comes from Truman Capote.

“Failure is the condiment that gives success its flavor.”

-Truman Capote

I like this quote, though of late I find myself shouting, “Hold the fucking ketchup!” Yeah, it’s been a rough few months in submission land, and I’m currently on a twenty straight rejection bender. These things happen, of course, and I talked a bit about why in a post last week t...

Swings & Misses III: The Rejection Streak Strikes Back

Back in late 2017, I suffered the longest rejection streak of my writing career. If you’re interested, I covered that streak in a post titled Swings & Misses II: The Rejection Streak. Well, friends, I am currently working on the second-longest rejection streak in my career, though in terms of actual duration, this one tops the charts. I thought it might be interesting to look at these two periods of, uh, unsuccess, and see if there are any similarities, any differences, and, well, anything that ...

Weeks of Writing: 2/22/21 to 3/7/21

A couple more weeks of writing come and gone. Check it out.

Words to Write By

This week’s quote comes from Joseph Heller.

“Every writer I know has trouble writing.”

~ Joseph Heller

I feel this one in my soul. Writing is rarely easy for me. I struggle to get started, I struggle to keep going, and I struggle to finish. I actually accomplish these things by gritting my teeth, steadfastly ignoring the demons of doubt and fear, and just getting on with it by sheer force of will. Maybe it’s not this w...

Submission Statement: February 2021

Another month come and gone. Here’s how I did.

February 2021 Report CardSubmissions Sent: 5Rejections: 6Acceptances: 0Publications: 0Further Consideration: 0

February was, well, not spectacular. I would have liked more submissions, fewer rejections, and, you know, maybe an acceptance. None of that was to be, unfortunately. The five submissions for the month give me sixteen for the year, and I sent one out this morning for seventeen. So I’m still on pace for one-hundred subs. No acceptance...

Write What You Know: I Just Work Here

One of my favorite books about the craft is Stephen King’s On Writing. It’s chocked full of interesting anecdotes and useful tidbits about King’s approach to the written word (definitely check it out if you haven’t already). Much of that book has stuck with me over the years, but one of my favorite bits is not one you might expect. Here it is:

“People love to read about work. God knows why, but they do. If you’re a plumber who enjoys science fiction, you might well consider a novel about a plumb...