#61 – Eleventh No For Drug Enforcement

So… Rejection number sixty-one came in on Friday night but I was busy getting my drink on with my buddy Mark and spent all day on Saturday sort of laying around watching TV. So… I’m alerting you to this breaking news today.

Yes… rejection number sixty-one. Rejection number eleven for Drug Enforcement alone. Pretty neat. In a very depressing kind of way.

This one came in from Andromeda Spaceways Inflight Magazine a nice little publication down under. This is the fifth rejection I’ve received from them in total and after a very quick two whole days.

I didn’t think I had a huge chance at this one going through though. Their submissions hints and tips page says they’re “chock full of stories set in modern day America”. And even though Drug Enforcement is set in the future, three of the four main characters are American law enforcement officers. I figured this was probably going to count against me on it.

I’m this close to just locking it away. After eleven rejections, I’ve hit almost every possible venue that would be willing to take a look. That said, there are two places that it might still fly. There is L. Ron Hubbard’s Writers Of The Future short story contest. They do it quarterly and the next deadline is April 1. Then, there is also Zoetrope, Francis Ford Copola’s fiction magazine.

I don’t really think the latter stands much of a shot, but what the hell. The former one, I don’t know.

The big question is, what do I do with it once I’ve exhausted all the paying markets? Do I send it to a place that doesn’t pay? Do I publish it on spudWorks? Do I set up a new site just to host the sci-fi stories and world background? I don’t know. This is what I need to figure out. I’d like to do something with it. It’d be a shame to just have it go into a trunk and have it forgotten. I really like it and I’d like to show it off.

I don’t know. Decision to come later.

So this is my second rejection for the year. Believe it or not, even though I’ve still got five submissions out, I’m averaging just three days per rejection right now. It helps that the first was returned after four days and the second after just two.

Still, there are more to come, for certain. As I’ve said before, we’re like the Cubs of writing here. Or… actually, given the year the Giants had last season and since they’re my hometown team, I might start comparing myself to them.

And on that note… Hope you’re having a good weekend, kids.