I should not write a blog post when I'm in this mood. I'm bound to say something I regret! This morning I had a email from the editor of Acumen to say my poems didn't make it. Deep down I already knew this. Some time ago now I was informed that two of the four poems I submitted had made it to the shortlist and that I would hear by the end of November whether they had made it into the journal for January. Of course I was excited and the waiting was awful. One minute I was up, the next down. When I didn't hear I feared the worst. So it doesn't come as a shock just a huge disappointment. I was told there were around 1,000 poems submitted and the decision was hard. Is that a comfort? Not really. I just wanted publication in something a little more prestigious on my poetry walk. Right now I'm not sure what I feel so I just won't think about it.
2 comments:
Hi Heather, it's horrible to go through that kind of long drawn-out waiting game, I do sympathise. Personally I think the best way to reject is a quick, brief, 'thanks but not this time' - without reference to shortlists or how many submissions they get, which is frankly irrelevant to the rejectee. You might enjoy a round-up I did recently of 'how to deal with rejections' blog posts - https://ukpoetgal.wordpress.com/2014/10/14/dealing-with-literary-rejections-six-viewpoints/
Take care and keep sending out the poems!
By the way, I've tried Acumen a couple of times but my poems were rejected, but subsequently taken by other magazines of fine calibre... make of that what you will!
Thank you so much for your comments. They helped.I'm sure I've read your blog post but I think I need to re-read it! As I was anticipating the final confirmation I was thinking where I could send these poems next. So they should be going out again soon.
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