Submissions

Spurred by having 4 acceptances so far this year I've sent another batch off. In the post I have 10 stories (4 in competitions), 8 Flash pieces and 11 poems. A few of these pieces are so old that their style is back in fashion. My lifetime success rates are about 30% for poems and 15% for stories, but of course some pieces need to sent out several times so I'm not expecting many of these to be accepted. 3 would be about par.

I think 2 of the poems (they're newish ones) are amongst my better work. I think several of the stories should have been published by now. Few are new, but I like them. I've read many story collections recently, and I think my best pieces are better than the collections' worst. I don't do simul submissions, nor have I saturated the US market. I'll try those options if all this batch fail.

Why do I put myself through this ordeal? Because I'd like to have a pamphlet of poems and a book of stories/Flash published, and I think I need more acknowledgements. I have too few good Flashes for a book, so I'm tempted by the idea of mixing Flash and short stories in a single collection. I'm seeing this mix more often nowadays - readers seem ready for it.