Final accountability check-in for this challenge! But first, what is #100rejections anyway?
I have decided to set the literary goal of accumulating 100 rejections this calendar year to facilitate sustained efforts toward publication. Submitting multiple poems to one market and having them all rejected counts as one rejection. Having any number of poems in the packet accepted means that submission counts as one acceptance.
December, 2017 — 12 New Rejections, 7 New Acceptances, 20 New Submissions
2017 FINAL TALLY — 95 Rejs / 23 Accs / 105 Subs
- Clementine Unbound, Rejection (personal)***
- Leaves of Ink, Acceptance
- DIALOGIST, Rejection
- Gone Lawn, Acceptance
- After the Pause, Rejection
- Dunes Review, Rejection
- Inflectionist Review, Acceptance
- The Mantle, Rejection
- Allegro, Rejection
- Riddled With Arrows, Acceptance
- Ink In Thirds, Acceptance
- Gyroscope Review, Acceptance
- Rust + Moth, Rejection
- Valparaiso Review, Rejection
- West Branch, Rejection
- Into the Void, Rejection
- Liminal Stories, Rejection
- Poetry Breakfast, Rejection
- Ekphrastic Review, Acceptance
*** A personal rejection, also known as a tiered rejection is sort of like a half-way point between a rejection and an acceptance. It means the editors passed on the work, but otherwise left a positive commentary of some kind in the rejection notice that was unique to you or your work, or added a personal note of appreciation. This is the first one I’ve thought to make note of, and definitely the first one I’ve received in a while. I’m excited about this one because I’d love to be published in this journal, so it feels like one little step closer! Also, they liked one of the poems that I really like, too, so that was just plain nice.
So. I decided on December 21 that I was done submitting. With the holidays coming, several life-stuff things to prepare for, and the likelihood of editorial attention dwindling sharply with the arrival of Christmas break, I called it “done.” At that time, I had collected about 88 rejections, plus still had 13 outstanding submissions. So in one sense, I did make it to 100 (ish, sorta).
That meant I was prepared and willing to accept whatever results came in (or didn’t) at that point, and I was also going to choose to be pleased with the success of my project (regardless of my final tally’s relationship to the number “100”).
When I hit 90 rejections, in my mind I won. I also realized that, with the summer of transition and the exigencies of life and child-rearing consuming my attention mid-year, I had lost 5 full months of literary activity of any kind (no writing, reading, editing, or submitting). That means with the five bonus rejections that came in over the course of the next week or so, I’d gotten 95% of the way to my goal in less than 60% of the time I had originally allotted for the project. I’m good with that. Monthly average was about 2 acceptances per month, and my volume-submitting to the fastest responding markets (according to Duotrope) in November and December definitely paid off with a huge spike in both acceptances and rejections to finish the year with a bang. So I got a 95 out of a 100. That’s an “A” as far as I’m concerned. 🙂
I think next year I will change it up a bit. Maybe I will focus on submitting to pipe dream top-tier markets only, or getting my full collections out there more. I can already feel 2018 percolating. It’s nice. Thanks to those who followed along, I hope you received something of value in the experience, too.
Stay tuned to this blog for more news and poetry from Samara-land, a lot of the end-of-the-year acceptances will be coming out in the next 2 months!
Happy New Year, everyone.
❤
samara powers poetry 