Acceptance thread

[subie09lega]

I worked with a lady who taught me a valuable lesson - save often, to which I add - backup often to external storage. She had a post-it on her monitor "SAVE OFTEN". I thought it was kind of silly until I lost stuff. Ctrl-S is my longtime friend. It's not a matter of if your hard drive fails but when. Sad but true.

[ozmosis7]

Having spent several years in graphic design, I overdue it a bit with backing things up. Every time I touch a story, I use a copy and save the old one. I save every email and otherwise from every place that story touches. I keep everything on a USB drive and have it cloned weekly. Then daily I have it automatically saved to Apple's Time Machine (externally). And then I do monthly backups to DVD's, one copy for local purposes and another for the firesafe. Even with al of that redundancy I've lost stuff. But far fewer than I would have if I didn't do all of that. Oh, and although Word has an autosave and file recovery should you crash, I save every few minutes.

[subie09lega]

And I thought I was a little OCD.

Having spent several years in graphic design, I overdue it a bit with backing things up. Every time I touch a story, I use a copy and save the old one. I save every email and otherwise from every place that story touches. I keep everything on a USB drive and have it cloned weekly. Then daily I have it automatically saved to Apple's Time Machine (externally). And then I do monthly backups to DVD's, one copy for local purposes and another for the firesafe. Even with al of that redundancy I've lost stuff. But far fewer than I would have if I didn't do all of that. Oh, and although Word has an autosave and file recovery should you crash, I save every few minutes.

[ozmosis7]

And I thought I was a little OCD.

I know, right. In that business, they strap you down in a theater and keep your eyes open by sticking toothpicks in them, and then show you movies on how best to backup your files. It's all standard procedure, and quite maddening. Never really leaves you.

But I'm feeling much better now.

[ozmosis7]

Had a story, "Heirloom," accepted to a newer press. I can't share the details yet, but will as we get closer.

[Ben Staad]

Had a story, "Heirloom," accepted to a newer press. I can't share the details yet, but will as we get closer.

Congrats! After you have had many things accepted is it still a thrill? Just wondering.

[ozmosis7]

I don't know that I'm the best person to answer that question, as I've really not had all that much accepted. I will tell you I check my email, always sitting at the edge of my seat. When it's bad news, I slump and struggle to pick myself up before working hard to take what, if any, feedback I've received and try to address those concerns. When it's good news, I jump for joy and scream, run around the house laughing and playing with the dogs, and occasionally do backflips.

So no, acceptance never gets old. The key, near as I can tell, is to continue to grow as a writer and not settle because of acceptance. It's all about writing a better story. Whenever people get back to me, saying they've enjoyed something I've written, it fuels my desire to produce better work, much the reason why I've gone back to some older stories with my upcoming collection. I use acceptance the same way, I suppose.

[Ben Staad]

I don't know that I'm the best person to answer that question, as I've really not had all that much accepted. I will tell you I check my email, always sitting at the edge of my seat. When it's bad news, I slump and struggle to pick myself up before working hard to take what, if any, feedback I've received and try to address those concerns. When it's good news, I jump for joy and scream, run around the house laughing and playing with the dogs, and occasionally do backflips.

So no, acceptance never gets old. The key, near as I can tell, is to continue to grow as a writer and not settle because of acceptance. It's all about writing a better story. Whenever people get back to me, saying they've enjoyed something I've written, it fuels my desire to produce better work, much the reason why I've gone back to some older stories with my upcoming collection. I use acceptance the same way, I suppose.

Thanks for the reply. It's interesting to hear someones feelings about their work being accepted.

[ozmosis7]

Thanks for the reply. It's interesting to hear someones feelings about their work being accepted.

Sure. I hope it offered something. I should also mention that rejection used to hurt a lot more than it does now. It always sucks to have a story rejected, but as time goes by and you get some quality feedback, you can use it to hone your skills. I'd prefer the other motivational resource of course, but you take what you get. And a lot of reading helps too, of course.

[Michael Wehunt]

Just got an acceptance email from pro market Crowded Magazine. They want to publish my story "Beside Me Singing in the Wilderness" in Issue 3. I was already in their debut issue, so this is really cool.

[RichardThomas]

Just got an acceptance email from pro market Crowded Magazine. They want to publish my story "Beside Me Singing in the Wilderness" in Issue 3. I was already in their debut issue, so this is really cool.

very cool. looks like a pretty interesting magazine. love the art. congratulations.

[Michael Wehunt]

Thanks, Richard. They do a fantastic job with the art for each story.

[ozmosis7]

Congrats, Michael. You've been on a roll. I tried CH a couple times. It's an interesting process, although the 2nd time I wasn't able to get any of my feedback.

[Michael Wehunt]

Thanks very much, Mr. Cain!

[Ben Staad]

Awesome news on the acceptance. Congrats.

Thanks, Richard. They do a fantastic job with the art for each story.