[Cyn Neely]

but with positive comments.

Another press contest, to which I sent my manuscript, has refused it --but the editor (not the judge and that's the issue) wrote a handwritten note on the rejection slip that said:" This is a poignant, strong, well-crafted manuscript that I enjoyed very much. Keep submitting this. It deserves to be published!"

This is the third editor who has personally encouraged me to keep trying to get this published. So I guess I should figure out how and to whom to query this. Maybe contests is the wrong way to go. Can you tell I really don't know what I am doing?

sigh

I'll figure it out eventually...

Can we start a thread for the almost accomplished member?

Cyn

[Janice D. Soderling]

This is the third editor who has personally encouraged me to keep trying to get this published. So I guess I should figure out how and to whom to query this.

That is wonderful. That can only mean that it is good. Comments like that are not common.

What you should do (I think) is to decide how you define this text and then go looking for a contest or a magazine that asks specifically for that genre or style or length or whatever you think are the criteria that fits.

I once had a story that no one, I mean no one, accepted or commented. I believed in it though. Then after a long time (I mean years and years) in the files, it won me a lot of money. I know I was lucky. It happened to come before a judge who liked what I liked.

I know nearly by heart those handwritten editor notes which I sometimes was fortunate enough to receive back in the old days. I didn't realize then how uncommon they were even then, and now, when everyone and his/her brother and sister has an MFA or PhD in creative writing, or both, or double majors, and all of them are submitting work... Well, nowadays such notes are really uncommon.

So be proud that you have three editors who believe in you and keep on keeping on.

[Cyn Neely]

well...
I am proud, sort of, but on the other hand I feel clueless. so...

I need to knuckle down and research some pubs. I am also working on a solo exhibit of my paintings that I have been offered. Not a huge deal with regard to venue, but still a big deal because I need this work to speak well for me. Spread too thin, I think, but then, I seem to need the pressure to produce.

Thanks for your advice Janice. I appreciate it.

[Janice D. Soderling]

Good luck with both of your projects.

[Susan McLean]

Cyn,
Those positive comments are a good sign. If they were very brief, something like "Nice manuscript," you might wonder if the same thing was scrawled on every rejection just to keep the poets continuing to submit to the contest. But the comment you mentioned sounded sincere and detailed. And the fact that you are getting comments from several different contest organizers sounds particularly promising.

Susan

[Philip Quinlan]

Cyn

Short of acceptance, those in the know tell me "getting ink" is a pretty positive thing.

Quality, like the truth, will out, I'm sure.

Best of luck

Philip

[Adam Elgar]

As the others say, Cyn, you are definitely on the right track - that note is great news. Contests are always a long shot, but any approving personal contact from an editor shows that you have done something of real quality. You'll get there!

[W.F. Lantry]

Originally Posted by Cyn Neely

Can you tell I really don't know what I am doing?

Join the club, Cyn. None of us know what we're doing!

But it looks like you're making progress fast. Keep your courage up, and keep sending it out. It'll find a home. Remember: "Strength and Honor!"

Thanks,

Bill

[Gail White]

I don't know where you are sending this, but have you tried for the Donald Justice Prize, given by West Chester. They like formal poetry (if that's what you write) and I believe they take 2 winners at a time, which may be an advantage if you are coming close each time.

[Catherine Chandler]

Cyn:

Five years ago I received a four paragraph rejection letter from a Canadian editor. Among the "glowing" things he said: "Your technical facility and formal erudition are impressive; but such qualities are easy enough to find. Much rarer, for me, is how all that music -- resourceful, uncanny, colloquial -- is tied to a piercing perceptiveness and generosity of spirit." Unfortunately, no deal.....

So over the next five years I continued to write and to revise, revise, revise. I knew where changes needed to be made, and I made them. I scrapped over a third of that MS completely.

My advice to you is that you not lose hope, that you continue to write, to revise, to try different ways of putting together the MS, and, as others have suggested, read up on which competitions and publishers are open to your style of writing.

I wish you all the best.

Cathy