[Katy Evans-Bush]

I got off my ass and submitted... and every single solitary thing has come back rejected! Rejections from: Poetry London, Acumen, Anon, Poetry, Dark Horse, PN Review, The North, Hudson Review (including the one for Michael Donaghy), Academi competition. Magma promised to reply by mid-May but have not responded yet, yes or no. (edited in to say they've responded. They said no.)

I was invited to read at an event in April and when it rolled around I just wasn't on the line-up.

I was invited to record for a CD for Oxfam, and have now been told I was taken out of it at the last minute for space reasons (along with seven others, okay, so it's kosher) but am still invited to the launch! And I should be in the sequel CD if this one sells!

In all fairness I have a review forthcoming (in May?) in The North and a few things in the pipeline at the Contemporary Poetry Review. Another thing was accepted two years ago and was supposed to come out in April but I have seen neither hide nor hair of it so far.

So there ya go. But at least I got off my ass and submitted!!!

Oh, and I've lost my job.

KEB

[Duncan Gillies MacLaurin]

Katy

I'm one of those people who when anything untoward occurs to them try - and usually manage - to console themselves with the following two meditations:

a) What scenario could have happened that was even worse but didn't happen?

and

b) This bad thing that happened may seem like a problem, but in fact it is but a challenge that will help me grow/change/find a new opportunity.

I suspect you are one of those people too and that you'll bounce back stronger than ever.

Duncan

[Richard Wakefield]

Katy:
You know by now that there are all kinds of reasons for getting rejected that have nothing to do with the quality of the poems. Repackage them and send them out again right away!
Richard

[Quincy Lehr]

Katy,

Shit, that's rough. As it happens, I sent off a letter withdrawing poems from consideration from a journal that had had them for over eight months.

And though I still have a job at the moment, it may console you to know that I'm not very well paid.

Hope things turn around for you.

Quincy

[Katy Evans-Bush]

LOL Quincy, that doesn't really console me. And I pay London rent, so I have to keep money coming in. That's the problem!

And you shouldn't be too hasty withdrawing poems: The Hudson Review had my friend's poems for NINE months and then they took FIVE of them! Of course, by that time she'd otherwise published two of those; but she sent them five more, and so now she has three poem in the current issue and three more forthcoming! Waiting can pay off.

So, silly me. Of course I posted this and immediately started printing off a series of cover letters; and one useful thing is that in typing the list of rejections it wasn't actually as long as it felt in my brain! I'm like: is THAT all the magazines I sent to??

And if Chris Childers is reading this: Chris, get off your ass and submit anyway.

KEB

[Alex Pepple]

Katy - I feel your pain. But, keep trying, the acceptance will come!

Cheers,
...Alex

[David Anthony]

I stopped submitting for a long time because I found I disliked rejection more than I enjoyed acceptances.

These days I don't submit much. What I do submit is either to editors I know, or where somebody knowledgeable has suggested I submit a particular poem, or where an editor has specifically requested something.

The exception is when I really, really want to get into something.

So far this year I believe the policy's been 100% successful: three submitted, three accepted.

Best wishes,
David

[David Mason]

I like Richard's advice, Katy, and believe in you as a poet so completely that I think editors will come around. Who knows what gets in their heads? This is a rather crushing period for you--the lost job more than anything else, I would think. Hang in there and know your friends are in your corner.
Dave

[Katy Evans-Bush]

You guys are great.

[Gregory Dowling]

Katy,

Just to say I agree wholeheartedly with Dave. Keep at it,

Gregory