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Oh no

Published by Val Gryphin on October 27, 2011

Well, when you submit as much as I do you are bound to screw up, and I do, and this time I did!

I have a story out to a magazine that bumped it up for a second reading. All well and good. But I was looking through my rejection letters and realized that I submitted it to the same market last year where I received a personal rejection to it. Oh no!

So then the question was do I write and tell them I realized what I did, or wait and see how they responded? They are a super-fast market and I knew I would hear within a day or two.

I sent them a note apologizing for the mixup, and hopefully they won’t blacklist me. The market just looked like a good fit! Hopefully they have a good laugh over it and no hard feelings. I’ve made this mistake once before, oddly with the same story, and the editors were not happy with me at all – that time I didn’t know until they pointed it out to me. Not a good thing to annoy editors.

The funny thing it I use Duotrope religiously, and somehow missed in the tracker that it had already went to that market – and I am usually very careful about double-checking so I don’t do this.

Ah well, I’ll laugh at myself and hope the editor does the same.

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Booking Through Thursday 10/27/11

Published by Val Gryphin on October 26, 2011

Booking Through Thursday

What’s the hardest/most challenging book you’ve ever read? Was it worth the effort? Did you read it by choice or was it an assignment/obligation?

 

The hardest books I’ve read are ones that I haven’t yet finished. There are three: Don Quixote, Les Misérables, and Anna Karenina. (Sense a theme here?) I was not assigned any of these three for school, but was intrigued by them and chose to take them on. I still own them all, and I will finish them as they are like a red flag being waved in front of my face.

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Hint Fiction Artwork

Published by Val Gryphin on October 26, 2011

Last year I had a short-short story titled “Insomnia” Posted in a W.W. Norton anthology titled Hint Fiction: An Anthology of Stories in 25 Words or Fewer. All of the stories included were 25 words or fewer, and the authors ranged from very well known such as Joyce Carol Oates the very unknown such as I. It was edited by Robert Swartwood, and not only was it a fun piece to write, but the book turned out fantastic, and is in its second printing I believe.

Now a couple of months ago I received an email from Robert that some of the stories from the book were going to be included in a juried art show at the Columbia Art League in Columbia, MO. I didn’t think too much of it, assuming my story wouldn’t be one of the ones picked. However, about a month ago I received an email from Robert (who was flown out for the show, the lucky dog) that my story had inspired, not one, but two pieces in the show. And he sent pictures that I have his permission to post.

My story – which was also included on the website for the show (how lucky am i??) – was:

  Sleeping Beauty never minded the spindle prick. It was the wake-up kiss she hated.

The first artwork is by Inessa Morelock:

Insomnia by Inessa Morelock
Insomnia by Inessa Morelock

The second one was by Gennie Pfannenstiel:

Insomnia by Gennie Pfannenstiel
Insomnia by Gennie Pfannenstiel
Insomnia by Gennie Pfannenstiel
Insomnia by Gennie Pfannenstiel

BOTH were also featured in The Columbia Daily Tribune’s slideshow of entries! Also there is a writeup here.

I hope one of them wins the show!

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Breaking in the new theme

Published by Val Gryphin on October 25, 2011

As you can see the site has quite a different layout then before. I’m not sure if I like it the way it is yet or not, but I don’t plan on spending too much time tweaking it as I want to get content in here. It doesn’t matter how good a blog looks if there isn’t the meat for the reader to chew on! Comments are appreciated.

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We like you… but not enough

Published by Val Gryphin on February 16, 2008

One of the stories I submitted last year went to an online magazine, and let me tell you that was an up and down ride.

The first email I got was this:

We’re delighted to let you know that your story, “Short Story,” has just been accepted for its second step in our selection process. Each of our editors will evaluate your story and we’ll make a final decision as to whether or not we’ll be able to accept it for publication. This happens for less than 10% of our submissions.
…
You should hear back from us within one month.

Then a few weeks later…

Our editorial review of your truly lovely, delicate story, “Short Story,” has been completed. Unfortunately, we won’t be able to use your piece at this time.

Once again, though, we liked your work. Please be aware that only a small percentage of the stories submitted to us ever make it to the ‘second step’ stage where we’ve been considering your story, and only 52 can be published within the framework of our weekly schedule each year.

We genuinely look forward to seeing more of your work in the near future.

Wow, that was a let down, let me tell you, particularly since this particular editor really did seem to like the piece. Happily, it later was published in a different market 😆

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