Monday, July 28, 2008

Dust off

I'm picking myself up and dusting myself off. This weekend I learned that a journal rejected the short story I submitted for a contest. Sadly, they don't even send form rejection letters. I found out by checking my submission status online - my status changed from "In process - we are reading your submission" to "Complete - we finished reading your story and will not be publishing it." Sweet. Two years ago I would have cried about the rejection, but I finally seem to be developing a thicker skin. I immediately began searching for a new place to submit. C'est la vie.

It sucks to be a writer sometimes. I spend my time researching (aka, reading books and traveling to cool archival libraries in the city) and creating new worlds (albeit out of old ones). I work at home and wear my favorite jeans, tshirt, and flip flops, and my assistant requires constant attention and the occasional walk or tug.

Drew, the writer dog and assistant extraordinaire.

It's a rough life. Can I please trade it all in for the cubicle and the office sludge, er, coffee?

p.s. Since my humor doesn't always come through, I am being completely sarcastic. (Well about the last bit anyway, I really did get rejected, and the pay really does suck.)

9 comments:

Kristen @ frostingandfroth.com said...

Bravo for dusting yourself off after that silly rejection. I'm going to try to take a cue from you since I'm feeling down in the dumps today over the job(less) situation. Say "hi" to the assistant for me.

Unknown said...

Tomorrow dawns a new day. Just keep submitting and I bet that story will find itself a home.

Yvonne said...

Ughh, what a crappy way to communicate a rejection. Glad you're seeing the good side of writing - I agree though, the pay does leave something to be desired!

Deborah Carr (Debs) said...

Crikey, you had to work to find that rejection, didnt you?

Mind you, I would love to work from home and I think that your assistant is especially cute too.

Angie said...

Thanks, Kris, I think I'm getting better at picking myself up. When I'm focusing on what I gave up career-wise, I try to remember what I get instead. Writerdog says hi and good luck. ;)

Chad, thank you, I hope so!

Yvonne, I know, I think I prefer the form rejection. There's a lot of joy in choosing your own path, even if it doesn't pay (yet...hopefully).

Debs, seriously. I thought that status was relevant only after they informed everyone (course that didn't stop me from looking).
I'm lucky I can do this for now, especially with such a great assistant.

Kat W said...

Very cute photos.

Don't worry about that rejection - your entry was too good and threatened to make the journal's writers look bad. That's my theory.

Kat :-)

Angie said...

Thanks, Kat. If only it were that simple. :)

Jenny Beattie said...

Aah, sorry to hear about the rejection, Angie. Great to hear you're picking up, dusting down, and getting ready to start over ... that's the ticket (as we say here in the UK ... or did some forty years ago... quite what ticket it was is a mystery to me but you have to say it in an old fashioned, posh British accent!)

Angie said...

Thanks, JJ. I love that saying (we have it hear too) but I always wondered what the ticket was as well.
*Posh accent ready*