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themargret

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33 comments on Retirement

Retirement

Picture this: You’re asked to write a story for a market. You write and workshop. You know this is one of your best stories. It’s polished. You submit said story and it gets rejected. “Okay,” you think. “This happens. Maybe it wasn’t as good of a fit as I thought.” So you submit the story to another market. It again gets rejected.

You workshop the story some more. Several other writers read the story and tell you how great it is. You’re ready to go.

Only the story gets rejected eighteen more times. Most markets tell you how great the story is, but it just doesn’t fit into their theme enough. Or you’re told there were so many subs and your story made it to the last round, but just didn’t make the cut. In fact, some rejections even say “We loved your story and we’re sure it will be accepted someplace else really soon.”

But it isn’t. And you see your twenty rejections, some of which took 200+ days, and wonder “what the f*ck?” You still have three markets pending responses. One may be defunct because it’s now been over a year now. And now your faith that one will pick your story up is dwindling.

You suspect that if you sub it to a market that only makes token payments, it might be accepted. But dammit! Everyone loves the story. They say it should be accepted for money. Why won’t anyone pay you?

Now you’re starting to run out of well-paying markets. You start to believe you are blacklisted, because other folks you know get paid for their short stories. And those are some of the people who tell you you’re good. You consider subbing under another name to test the theory, but then what would that really solve?

You then start spiraling into depression because no matter how hard you try, no matter how much you edit, it seems like nobody will ever see the value in your writing. You will never be a “professional writer” and will always have to work a day job.

Is now the time accept your place in the world as a cheap, amateur writer that will only get a few bucks for your hours of hard work? Do you sub the piece for a token payment? Do you retire it out of spite because you don’t want you hours of work to go someplace where it won’t be seen by more than a handful of people for a fistful of pennies?

How do you deal with a well-written piece that can’t find a home for reasons unknown?

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themargret

33 responses to “Retirement”

  1. Sandy Randall Avatar
    Sandy Randall

    Sub writer for artist, musician, creative etc … I ask this question all the time with my artwork. Ok I know I’m not an amazing artist, but visually I can compare to others and I don’t see why some artists make amazing amounts of money (we’re talking thousands of dollars) for a bunch of paint randomly slapped on a canvas. I assume there is some marketing that happens, but what is it? What magic wand do I need to wave?

    Yes I know this frustration well. I haven’t tried it with my writing yet. My art is the proverbial toe in the water test.

    I’ve tried my own websites, which become more work than I have time for. So to your question … keep trying or retire?

    I worked at a job that made me less than happy for 23 years, to pay the bills. Got the pension (which I have another 6 years to wait to cash it in) and I have a retirement job (Thanks Starbucks)to kinda get me by. Still the writing and the art give me great inner satisfaction whether anyone else likes it or not. So I guess I’ll keep the light on for someone who stumbles on my doorstep wanting to buy a book or a piece of art. Maybe if they’re nice enough I’ll make them a great Mocha Cappuccino as well …

    Liked by 10 people

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  2. mimispeike Avatar
    mimispeike

    The vast majority of creatives do not make a living from their art. We have to do it for ourselves, and have that joy. Part of the problem may be trying to write work of real value. Writing sensational schlock may improve our chances, at least in terms of publishing a novel, but who wants to do that?

    The only thing I can say is, keep at it. I feel your pain, I absolutely do.

    Liked by 10 people

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  3. Mike Van Horn Avatar
    Mike Van Horn

    Stop editing it and write other things. Write a sequel. Write another story, even better. Build up an anthology of your stories. Self publish on Amazon. Write for the love of writing—money be damned.
    Write a screenplay based on it. Expand it into a novelette. Resend it to the same publishers—their needs change.
    When my pieces are finished, the last thing I want to do is send them out to readers who will tell me how to improve them. It’s done. Move on.

    Liked by 12 people

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    1. mimispeike Avatar
      mimispeike

      That’s the ticket! Better advice than mine by a long-shot.

      Liked by 7 people

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    2. Michael DiMatteo Avatar
      Michael DiMatteo

      Yes. Great advice.

      Liked by 6 people

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  4. Sue Ranscht Avatar
    Sue Ranscht

    We’ve all heard or read about famous authors who experienced many, many rejections before their work was accepted by an agent or traditional publisher. And usually, they report that after every rejection, they revised the manuscript. (Jack London received 600 rejections before he sold his first story. https://www.litrejections.com/best-sellers-initially-rejected/#:~:text=With%2023%20rejections%2C%20Frank%20Herbert,fiction%20novel%20of%20all%20time.)

    Even though that article shows there are plenty of publishers with poor judgment about how well-read an author’s work might become, there is still reason to believe that just because you’ve reached the end of your story doesn’t mean it’s finished. I’m in favor of continuing to edit as long as the author believes there are improvements she can make. But you can certainly retire any story temporarily to write other things and submit them instead. If you really believe in the value of what you write, who is it hurting if you choose to stop submitting it because you’ve received 20 or 50 rejections? You’re right, that would be spiteful. If you deny yourself any audience, even only a fistful-of-pennies or non-paying audience, how will you build a following? That’s the demand side of the story supply your hard work creates if you want to write for a living. Work out your frustration by working. Or running. Or anything that helps.

    Rejection is too easy to take so personally that it cripples your spirit. Maybe that’s where to start. Find a way to define rejection that doesn’t allow it to define you. Because it doesn’t. (Personally, I decided to commemorate each rejection by creating something beautiful. I chose book thongs that represent each agent or publishing house.) Then keep submitting and stop counting the rejections.

    Liked by 11 people

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    1. Sandy Randall Avatar
      Sandy Randall

      What’s a book thong? That’s a new one for me! 😁

      Liked by 6 people

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      1. Barb Woolard Avatar
        Barb Woolard

        Thanks for asking, Sandy. I’ll be watching for the answer. So far, I have some very interesting mental images. 🙂

        Liked by 8 people

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        1. Sandy Randall Avatar
          Sandy Randall

          😳🤣 Me too!

          Liked by 6 people

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          1. Sue Ranscht Avatar
            Sue Ranscht

            https://stranscht.com/2017/01/09/whats-that-smell-rejection-no2/

            Liked by 4 people

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          2. Sue Ranscht Avatar
            Sue Ranscht

            https://stranscht.com/2017/02/15/rejection-repurposed-3/

            Liked by 3 people

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          3. Sue Ranscht Avatar
            Sue Ranscht

            https://stranscht.com/2017/03/22/rejection-repurposed-4/

            Liked by 3 people

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      2. Sue Ranscht Avatar
        Sue Ranscht

        It’s a bookmark made of ribbon with decorative end pieces. I’ll see about putting up a photo of one of them.

        Liked by 5 people

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        1. Barb Woolard Avatar
          Barb Woolard

          Your book thongs are lovely. I’m being inspired to make some.

          Liked by 4 people

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          1. themargret Avatar
            themargret

            Agreed

            Liked by 4 people

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            1. Mike Van Horn Avatar
              Mike Van Horn

              I had to look up book thong. They are beautiful! I confess, my book thongs are little strips of PostIts. Or worse, a bent back page corner.

              Liked by 4 people

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              1. Mike Van Horn Avatar
                Mike Van Horn

                The benefit of using a strip of PostIt is that I can write a word or two on it to remind me why the heck I put it there in the first place.

                Liked by 2 people

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    2. Sandy Randall Avatar
      Sandy Randall

      I finally got a chance to follow this link (Starbucks let me go home at the end of my shift). I’m keeping this link to refer to when I need a good reminder.

      Liked by 7 people

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    3. Carl E. Reed Avatar
      Carl E. Reed

      Wise advice, Sue–hard-earned and long put into practice, I’m sure. (Leastwise, for me!)

      With every rejection I receive a little voice mutters in my head: “Fine; they didn’t like this one–for any number of reasons. Very well. I shall endeavor to hone and sharpen my craft until I get so good they can no longer ignore me.”

      Liked by 9 people

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  5. Carl E. Reed Avatar
    Carl E. Reed

    I feel your pain, frustration, bewilderment and despair. There is as much luck/good timing in this business as in any other endeavor. What to do in the meantime?

    As others have mentioned: Work on other projects. Keep an eye out for new markets you might submit to.

    And there is this hope/option (which I can personally attest to): This story might see print in a future book of yours one day. You will need content for a book, yes? Congrats! You’ve got one good, strong story already, it seems.

    PS. Ray Bradbury remarked (just before he died): that 50% of the short stories in one of his collections was rejected by EVERY magazine publisher he sent it to. And he was Ray Bradbury!!!

    PPS. And there is this: https://www.chicagotribune.com/2018/03/13/publishers-hated-a-wrinkle-in-time-and-madeleine-lengle-never-forgot-the-rejections/#:~:text=L'Engle%20frequently%20put%20the,wasn't%20a%20masochist.%E2%80%9D

    Liked by 11 people

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  6. GD Deckard Avatar
    GD Deckard

    I framed my first rejection letter. It was, after all, an accomplishment to get that far.

    Liked by 8 people

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  7. sootfoot5 Avatar
    sootfoot5

    gather any other homeless stories as well as one’s available for reprint and put it in a short story collection. Self publish the collection or try universities and small pubs as bigger ones don’t usually do ss collections. But some friends of mine have recently done just this and made a fair amount self publishing.

    Liked by 11 people

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  8. victoracquista Avatar
    victoracquista

    I feel your pain. It mirrors experiences I have had. Here is something I wrote to myself that liberated me from false beliefs:

    Two recent long held beliefs have come into question. I have believed if I work hard and apply myself, I will succeed by whatever metric I believe applies about what success is for this particular endeavor. I have also believed that my skills and talents will be recognized and valued in some fashion.

    So, when I see that ten years of effort hasn’t amounted to success as I envisioned, and when I feel that my skills and talents remain unrecognized, I react with a mixture of anger and sadness. This SHOULD NOT (a term of judgement) be the case. My expectations haven’t been met. I am disappointed, angry, sad, demoralized, even a little despondent.

    Who is to blame for these failures? People I depended on, the universe, my enemies, something else? I am responsible. I have held on to false beliefs plain and simple. Shedding these false beliefs is like rejecting a story I have been telling myself or has been told to me by others. Stories that I believed but no longer believe.

    I can tell new stories. I can be told new stories. But these are just stories. Less be-lieving and more be-living. Without false beliefs, I have no foundation to set judgements upon. This removes the “e” of expectations and all the anger and sadness when the expectations I constructed or bought into in this narrative about myself and the world are not met. And now, I can be free from these false beliefs, errant judgments, and unmet expectations. Instead of be-lieving, I give myself the freedom to be-living.

    Now, I realize this might not be helpful but it does put you in the driver’s seat when choosing what to believe. For me, I chose to continue to believe in the worth and quality of my writing. I chose to be trusting and patient. Now, It’s possible that I am deceiving myself but I take ownership of my response to external circumstances. I don’t like rejections, but they are opportunities for me to choose how to respond.

    I haven’t a clue what your response should be. You can continue to submit, continue to refine your craft, cash in your chips, give up, be patient, or any of a number of things. The one thing I would strongly urge you not to do is to stop believing in yourself as a writer or storyteller. Lots of writers and artists don’t get the recognition that their work merits (using a term of judgment here). If you are writing with the expectation that others will see the value and worth of it, you are empowering others and disempowering yourself. If that’s the choice you want to make, that is perfectly fine.

    For myself, I started a new narrative. My primary expectation is about myself and what I am capable of doing when it comes to writing. It’s about how I value what I write, the reasons why I do so, and my determination to continue to do so. So, I have not completely rejected expectations so much as taken them from the future as determined by a particular outcome and brought them into the present. I expect something of myself when I am writing and hold myself accountable. The blood, sweat, tears, hair pulling, and perseverance that goes into my writing I expect to be the product of full 100% effort. That’s what I can control. Anything less than a full effort represents a lack of commitment to myself. That’s a choice I’m not willing to make. Although, in truth, I’m pretty good at half-assing my writing. Hmmm…could be onto something there.

    Liked by 10 people

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    1. Carl E. Reed Avatar
      Carl E. Reed

      Indeed, Victor! A very thoughtful, cogent reply, rooted in cognitive psychology: Rephrase the worth/fairness story your mind is telling you about the accumulating rejections re: this one particular tale.

      Some years ago I realized (when my work was garnering nothing but rejections) that I would have to find another reason to continue writing other than the endorphin rush/validation of publication in a commercial market magazine. The best reason I came up with was: Practicing the craft allows me to appreciate the work of The Greats at a deeper level than I would otherwise experience, immeasurably enriching every book I read. They are the masters; I the disciple–but we tread the same path. There is joy, satisfaction and camaraderie in that realization.

      Also: We are never more ourselves than when we write.

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      1. Chip Pentium Avatar
        Chip Pentium

        👍

        Liked by 6 people

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      2. victoracquista Avatar
        victoracquista

        All excellent points, Carl. I especially like: “We are never more ourselves than when we write.”

        Liked by 6 people

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  9. mimispeike Avatar
    mimispeike

    Don’t obsess over the rejections. Think of it this way: when you finally have a breakthrough acceptance, you will have a backlog of fine stories to put out, either by yourself or with the assistance of a publisher. Doesn’t that thought put a smile on your face?

    Liked by 8 people

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  10. Perry Palin Avatar
    Perry Palin

    Many talented writers, artists, and musicians are doing good work and never are recognized. They have to find an “in” somewhere, and they just haven’t found it. Where is your “in” to publishing? It may be different for each of us.

    I met my modest publishing goals and made a bit of money only after finding a mentor (a woman who, by the way, has written books and articles and has never received a rejection letter) and she led me to a publisher who told me that I had a publishing home now and he would work with anything I sent him. I sent a promotion of my first book to a local newspaper which led to a paying gig as a newspaper contributor.

    One of our sons has a good paying day job, and a side hustle playing bass in a band. The band has a local reputation and the leader looks for gigs. They play weddings and corporate events, and they play bars and coffee houses. I asked my son if his love for performing was worth the cost of instruments and the time it takes to put on a show. He told me that the coffee houses were fun, but the corporate events were where the money was, that they recently played for an hour at a corporate event where his share was $800. My response to that? “Never mind.”

    Liked by 11 people

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    1. Perry Palin Avatar
      Perry Palin

      I could have added that I know several successful professional writers who say that they were helped by mentors or supporters who did not try to edit their work, but recommended the writer to gatekeepers in the industry. These pros now give back to the writing community by doing the same for up-and-comers that they know.

      It’s kinda like being a beekeeper. I’ve kept bees for nine or ten years. I still have a mentor who helps me with my bee issues. And I give back by mentoring new beekeepers. I have two right now, a third year beek and a newbee. They frankly need and appreciate my help, and they in turn will help others, and me too in the process.

      Back to writing. I don’t like everything I read. But when I am supportive of others’ writing efforts, I’m paid in kind, sometimes by people who can steer my stories toward publication.

      Liked by 9 people

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  11. themargret Avatar
    themargret

    Firstly, I don’t mean to be negative. I get that there are tons of folks in the same boat.

    Secondly, thank you all for your excellent responses! I appreciate it.

    I’ve been lucky in that I’ve had some great feedback from talented writers. Unfortunately, I suck at networking. I know people, who are also talented, but far better at dealing with people. They schmooze their way into book contracts or get hooked up with an agent because, well, they knew (sometimes biblically) the “right” people. Sadly, it’s in my nature to rub people the wrong way and that doesn’t help my case.

    The story in question is up to 21 rejections, 1 no response, and three pending submissions. The problem is that the only feedback I got in the rejections was one market that basically said TL:DR. Everyone else said nothing or it was good but just not what they were looking for.

    On a side note, I know for a fact that scientists also go through this. I happen to know a person that has a great understanding of how the universe works and has stated unequivocally that she will never write it down because someone else will just take the credit. It has happened before. At this point she’d rather see the world burn than share her work with a thankless world for free.

    I haven’t gotten to that point yet. But if I’m working for cents/hour, I want as many cents as I can get. You know what I mean?

    But mostly, I want a lot of people to read what I write. I may be wrong, but I believe that lesser paying markets tend to have fewer readers. I want all the readers! All of them, dammit!

    Has anyone done an analysis on which markets have the greatest number of readers? Maybe that’s the ticket. Hmmm…

    Liked by 5 people

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  12. Sue Ranscht Avatar
    Sue Ranscht

    Maybe pursue the smaller markets as well as the larger ones. After all, if you want all the readers, some of them are in the smaller markets, lol. And word of mouth can start between just two people.

    Liked by 5 people

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  13. Barb Woolard Avatar
    Barb Woolard

    “We are never more ourselves than when we write.” (Quoting Carl) That is exactly what keeps me going. I like who I am and how I feel when I’m writing. I like what the writing process does for my mind and my worldview. I like the way it motivates me to read and search out other ideas and critically evaluate them.

    Everything one does in life is highly dependent on dumb luck. I’m a pretty decent Scrabble player, but when I don’t draw high-point letters or when the board doesn’t give me places to play the great letters I’ve drawn, my score will suffer. People who have started great enterprises and made millions of dollars certainly have a skill set which has enabled them to succeed, but they’ve also had to catch the right breaks. President Obama was excoriated by many for his statement:  “Somebody helped to create this unbelievable American system that we have that allowed you to thrive. Somebody invested in roads and bridges. If you’ve got a business, you didn’t build that.” But I completely agree with him, whether we’re talking about building bridges, roads, and businesses or engaging in creative endeavors. The element of luck can never be discounted.

    So I choose to keep writing because it makes me feel like the best me. I quit sometimes, because it is depressing to feel unappreciated, and I can’t help comparing myself to others who do achieve the success I hope for; but I return, because I can’t find the same fulfillment anywhere else.

    Liked by 7 people

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  14. mimispeike Avatar
    mimispeike

    The times I have put Sly aside (for years, even) were times when I felt my problems were insolvable. The problems were on my end, with my conception, having nothing to do with publish-ability. Between book one and (at that time) book three, the tone had changed so much that I saw no hope for it.

    We all want to quit from time to time, believe me.

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