Sunday, July 24, 2011

Fledgling Mags and Rejected Rejections

So I've been watching a lot of Buffy, and doing the normal summer stuff: swimming, biking, complaining, night running, clacking away on my trusty typewriter, and reading a ton of lit mags.

I've been submitting to a lot of new magazines lately. I don't mean new to me, though they are that also; I mean baby magazines. The ones on Duotrope that say "fledgling." Ones that don't even have issues out yet.

What are your thoughts on submitting to new publications?

Anyway, all that aside, I've also been submitting to the tried-and-true mags, taking my lumps from the old favorites. Just this month I've added rejections to my pile from Caketrain, Wonderfort, The American Scholar, The Pedestal, and AGNI. It's a slow month, compared to June, when I got nearly twenty rejections. I suspect the editors are out doing the normal summer stuff, too.

Another thing I've been doing is sliding into the groove over at Stymie. I'm really loving this poetry editor gig. I do love reading for PANK, but the one great thing about Stymie is that I read only poetry as, duh, the poetry editor. Poetry is the thing I know about. I can read fiction and react to it, but the fact that I don't write fiction lends some ignorance to my opinions.

Apparently some people don't think my opinions are that valuable in the poetry arena, as just today I received my first rejected rejection, which the PANK editors know all too well. It wasn't an exceptional letter. Filled with the necessary expletives that one is prone to utter in her garage/living room/dorm room/kitchen pantry when she is rejected. The grammar was spot on. I just wanted something... more.

Some of my poems came out this month, too, so hooray for summer (Buffy Summers, ha). Check out two of my pieces in the latest issue of Emprise Review, and seven of my little nuggets at The Legendary. This coming week, check out fwriction : review, where I'll close out their poetry month. And of course, go forth and submit your own writing to these classy journals. And continue to take your rejection lumps without, you know, all the angry letter writing.

7 comments:

  1. i love you.
    you're funny and nice and oh so talented

    ReplyDelete
  2. I've had mixed experiences with sending to new publications. Submitting to NAP for their second issue, for example, turned out very well for me and I'm really proud to be involved with that magazine. But in general I feel a little apprehensive about sending fledgeling journals any work in which I take particular pride. You know, it just can't always turn out that well.

    Anyway, keep doing this thing that you're doing, because it's a refreshing sort of thing to see.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Thanks, Steve.

    I sometimes wonder about sending work I'm really proud of to new magazines, but then I figure if I keep writing new poems every day, there's bound to be lots more stuff I'm really proud of to come. Maybe it'll all even out in the wash.

    ReplyDelete
  4. I enjoy your work.

    (Etcetera section has typo/deadlink. Shh.)

    ReplyDelete
  5. Shh shh shh

    'intereview'?

    It may be that it's correct and I don't know my arse from my elbow.

    Once again- I enjoy your work! You were a happy find via Google.

    ReplyDelete