Thursday, February 08, 2007

Decisions, Decisions

Ever wonder what happens to your essay (or poem or short story) once you send it in to a literary magazine? Or wish you could be a fly on the wall in a multi-editor discussion of reasons to accept (or reject) a particular piece? Or need some perspective on what to do with a piece that has been rejected (and how to understand/interpret the rejection itself)? If so, click on over to this new post on the decision process on The Missouri Review's blog. At the very least, it will remind you how very subjective the editorial process can be. Some days, we sure do need to be reminded.

3 comments:

Lynne Griffin and Amy MacKinnon said...

As a fiction slush reader for Post Road, I, too, look for elegant writing, control of the narrative, and something provocative about the story, a theme or question that resonates. It's almost always clear from the first paragraph which story is a keeper.

Hope your new life is going well, Erika!

Amy

RenaSherwood said...

I do all that, and I still can't seem to get published (except poems). Perhaps I'm better off looking at a crystal ball at having my writing find a paid home!

Erika D. said...

Hey, thanks for your comments. And don't give up, rraven!