Category Archives: rejections

“Rivals” in Joyland

“Rivals” is the story of hockey card collecting sisters who share more in common than sport. Read now at Joyland.

This story was primarly inspired by the 1998-99 NHL season. Other influences include Parkdale, the CNE, and the real life Wookie. 


Fact checking was a priority. Up until publication, I was still finding things to correct. The Yzerman card mentioned is a one-in-two-hundred, not a one-in-one-hundred print run, and I had Jarome Iginla’s name and rookie year wrong! 

I also had the pleasure of meeting and working with Joyland Toronto editor Emily M. Keeler. 
Other online fiction:
“The Promise of Puppies” in Dragnet Magazine
“Hybrid Love” in Lies With Occasional Truth

Rejections: Good, Bad, and Ugly

Big brown envelopes in the mailbox or email rejections are mere reminders that you are in process. A steady stream of submissions makes the wait, and weight of each rejection seem less. Because I don’t know editors personally, I don’t take rejections that way.

Good Rejections
These come back under four months – quick in submission land. You recieve handwritten feedback – constructive comments and encouragement to send more work. Some magazines have enough readers to give feedback every time, very cool. Good rejections say your story “was a near miss”. So take another look, tweak, and submit elsewhere. Send the almost-made-it-publication a fresh story, and give thanks for the feedback. I keep a file of good rejections to boost spirts when low which happens a lot.

Bad Rejections
These comprise the majority of rejections and come back six to eight months after submitting. A bad rejection is the ever popular form letter/card that reads, “there was too much competition this time,” or “your work is not in tune with our style”. They offer you a subscription when you already have one. You pull your story from its SASE and it looks suprisingly fresh for having travelled across the country and back. I’m sure all stories get read, but one can’t help to wonder.

Ugly Rejections
These come in the mail a year or more after you’ve submitted, or you never hear back. Ugly rejections contain disparaging remarks, tell you not to quit your day job. Ha. A writer never quits his day job. My stories have been called “weak, thin, and insignificant” by editors. A friend recieved a rejection from a magazine he has no recollection of submitting to. Huh? Ernest Hemingway was rejected with, “It would be extremely rotten taste, to say nothing of being horribly cruel, should we want to publish it”. (The Torrents of Spring).

Do you have a good, bad, or ugly tale of rejection?           What do you do with your rejections?

More ugly rejections to famous writers

Short Story Submission Tips

You’ve been studying the craft and now you have stories you want to share with the world. You know they’re good. A trusted peer (not your mum) has encouraged you to submit.

Workshop to receive feedback and to catch spelling and grammatical errors that you often miss in your own work.

Find an appropriate journal/magazine. The Canadian Writer’s Market (book), Places for Writers (website), surfing the net, peers, and bios in the back of journals will help.

Read issues (buy, borrow from library, read/order online). Can you see your story here? Is it the right genre? Hopefully you have more than a few stories to choose from. I don’t subscribe to tweaking a story for location.

Follow guidelines related to formatting, word count, submission dates, SASE, etc. Start a file of magazines you submit to that includes addresses and guidelines – a great reference. Update with each subsequent submission as things change quickly in the writing world.

Cover letters should be short and sweet. Address them to the fiction editor. List publications and writing related education. You can mention a story you read and enjoyed from a recent issue to let them know you are familiar with their magazine. If you had previous feedback from the publication, give thanks.

Simultaneously submit There are a few places that say never ever, but who wants to submit a great story and wait 8 months to send it out again. If one story is accepted for publication, you simply email to say that unfortunately “your story” has been accepted elsewhere and you will e/mail them a new story.

Keep records of dates (sent & response) and locations. The business side of writing is important. You must stay organized. Ask for help if this isn’t your strong suit.

Be patient A 4-8 month response time is the norm, but you may wait a year or never hear back. After a year I don’t expect a response and often send something else. Once, I heard back after a year and a half. They said my story almost made the cut. Said story was accepted four months previous elsewhere so I took it as reinforcement and sent the slowpokes new fiction.

In the meantimewrite, write, write, and continue to send out those amazing stories. I have a story, rejected ten times yet I continue to submit it because I believe in it and it has received positive feedback. Think of the submission process as background to the creative. I submit 2-3 stories a month which means there are usually 10-12 stories floating around in submission land at any give time.

To Contest Or Not To Contest

I recieved a nice little form letter from a literary journal. They encouraged me to enter their annual fiction contest. Four years ago I sent my story “Summer Sublet” to the Eden Mills Writers Festival. This was my first submission ever, to anything. I call it my “masturbation story” and don’t know why I thought it stood a chance. Greener than green created bravado, I guess. The funny thing is it went on to be my first published story a year later.

After reading Matthew Firth’s: No More Prizes, No More Contests! a couple years back I stopped entering. I wouldn’t mind a bit of money, sure, but most of my stories are not the canlit pablum for the masses that often wins. The aforementioned journal also wants $40 to enter, albeit with a free subscription. I could go from a struggling to starving writer in no time.

I thought about entering the Writers’ Union Postcard Contest, 5$ fee, not bad. I took a 600 worder and whittled it to 250. In the end, I didn’t like the shorter version so much. Also, the WUoC are hosting a symposium about the changing literary landscape. I thought cool, but they only accept payment through VISA. What if you’ve never owned a credit card? So no, I don’t think I will enter their contest or attend their lecture.

Story Retirement

I now retire stories that I once thought were good. I’ll blame it on naive delusions of grandeur which still help to push me along in my writing career. I feel embarrassed that I once submitted stinkers to magazines/journals. The more I write the better judgement I have of knowing when a story is about developing craft (practice, practice, practice) or if it’s worth sending out to the world. Writing, good or bad, is never a waste of time because even a retired story usually has lines, dialogue, or scenes worth harvesting and planting into future stories. I transplanted passages from my very first short story (long retired) to my most recent piece, the two seemingly unrelated.

What if a story is a favourite? I have work I am determined to get published, but wonder if my personal attachment outweighs its merit. How many rejections are too many? One has ten rejections thus far, but I haven’t lost faith so I continue to send it out. And, if no one wants it? I’ll put it in a book if I still love it down the road, fuck it if the editor doesn’t like it (positive delusion). Or, maybe I’ll think it’s crap by the time this happens.

Before you retire a beloved story have one last look. Have you responded to feedback from editors, teachers, and peers in rewrites? This worked for one of my published stories. Perhaps, re-workshop or have a trusted writer/friend have another look. Ultimately, intuition is your best guide. When you lose interest in reworking or submitting a story it is time to put it to rest.