Goals Summary 2022 – Wk #37

There were a handful of things that happened last week that weren’t covered by my little bullet points of goals.

As I said in Saturday’s post, I received my first revise and resubmit request for a short story, so I spent some time on that. It’s always nice to get feedback from an editor. They’re busy people and have no obligation to reply to your story in any meaningful way beyond “we like and want to publish it.” Some markets don’t even both to respond to rejections. They just say, “after X amount of time, consider it a rejections.” 

(A/N: I try not to submit to markets like that. Like, I know you’re busy and get a TON of submissions that are simply not up to snuff, but I think there’s a baseline of respect and dignity that authors should be treated with. At least send a form rejection.)

So getting an email that said, “we liked the content of the story, but the telling was a bit rough. If you could sharpen it up a bit we would happily reconsider. As it is, it’s a rejection” is amazing! Now, no lie, that’s some vague feedback, but I also understood what they meant. It made sense and I hope that means I made changes they’ll like.

But here’s a sad fact: the majority of revise and resubmits still end in rejection. Writing and reading are such subjective experiences that, unless given explicit feedback, the odds of fixing something in just the right way for an editor are low. Especially if it’s an editor you’ve not worked with before (I imagine over time you’d get a sense of their taste and be better equipped to make changes they’ll enjoy).

Anyway, I did that. And then, as mentioned in the same blog post, we went to Oktoberfest! I did wear my dirndl and I didn’t take any good pictures of it. But a great time was had by all, and it was a much needed evening out of the house. I think the pandemic has really set a lot of us back in terms of re-entering the world. Social gatherings seem fewer and farther between. Harder to organize. Many friendships seem thin now, in need of mending. 

It seems like a lot of things in my life require a little extra care these days. My dog, my plants, my writing, myself. Maybe we’re all just craving the coziness of Fall? Warm sweaters and warm drinks, holidays spent with loved ones. I think I’m ready. As we drove through farmland on our way out to Oktoberfest, I told the spousal unit that Oktoberfest really is a celebration of the end of Summer and the return of Fall. It’s joyous and frantic as the State Fair, but with better beer and food, and fewer children underfoot. 

Yesterday the weather was warm and the sky was (mostly) blue. Today the air is crisp and cool and the clouds have rolled in. Fall is here.