You haven’t asked about my favorite icon or tab to push on my computer, but I am going to tell you anyway. I love to push “send.”
Now, pushing “send” does not necessarily bring a wonderful result. Our writers’ group just had a webinar with a wonderful editor who gave us eight reasons she might reject a manuscript. Trust me, she was just getting started. Her last one was a nebulous “not enough heart” which she went on to explain might mean that it just didn’t sing to her, but might sing to a different editor. Adding to the dismal scene, she said her acquisitions rate was about 2.9%, and that might be generous. So why do we writers keep pushing “send” in the face of almost impossible odds?
I go back to a version of the serenity prayer for my explanation. I accept the things I cannot change (editors’ percentages, their tastes, bad timing, etc.). I ramp up my courage to change the things I can (write, rewrite, pass it by my critique group, rewrite, pass it by my critique group, etc., push “send”). If rejection eventually (it is always eventually) follows the submission, I trust wisdom to know the difference in a not right placement (push “send” again to a different publication) and a work that needs to go back to the drawing board (write, rewrite, pass it by my critique group, rewrite, pass it by my critique group, etc., push “send”).
I’ve pushed “send” twice this week with calls for submissions from a couple of publications where I would like to see my work. The calls will surely attract more writers competing than there are spaces. To be quite honest, I had a lot of fun before I even got to the push “send” part. One is a 1200-word ghost story and the other is a 1600-word memoir piece that took me on a pleasant trip down memory lane.
Simon Whaley in The Writer said, “Only writers who actually write something and have the courage to send it off can be rejected”. If my courage gets something other than rejection, you will be among the first to know – but don’t hold your breath. It will be a while.