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cosmolinguistI was so tired after work I had a nap. Didn't notice D texting to say dinner is ready. He came upstairs to see how I was doing...and now is asleep himself.
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mount_oreganoRejections and fun don’t mix – except this one time.
I wrote a horror story about vampires and started sending it out. The story made the second cut in an anthology but not the final one. Oh, well. I sent it out again right away and got a response of “close, very close” from the editor. Not bad!
Then … the very next magazine rejected it with a note saying that it was “cruel and evil.” Evil? A vampire horror story? Isn’t that the point? I laughed about it with my writer friends, and for a while I was known as “the evil Sue Burke.”
The next magazine rejected it with (this was by snailmail) a preprinted note saying: “We celebrate your achievement!” Although the editors couldn’t take the story, the note said, they wanted me to know how proud they were of me for having written it and taken part in the furtherance of literature. Or something like that. I think they meant it because they dropped a sprinkle of confetti into the envelope — really cool confetti. I used it to decorate my desk lamp.
I kept sending the story out, got rejections both bland and encouraging, and on the 21st try, I found a magazine that loved it and took it. A few years later the story was even reprinted in an anthology. All’s well that ends well.
I learned four things from this adventure:
1. Confetti should accompany all rejections. Or, now that we send most things out via internet, a picture of a cute kitten. How hard would that be?
2. Rejections are about the story, not about the writer, which is too bad because I’d really like to be evil.
3. As we all know, rejections are a necessary step toward publication. We can even make a game out of them. I wish I could remember who I learned this from so I could give her credit: Try to see if you can achieve a certain number of rejections in a single day. She suggested five, so I made that my goal. The most I’ve ever gotten is three.
4. I need more rejections if I’m ever going to win the rejection game, which means I have to get more submissions out there. So, if you’ll excuse me, I’m going to go write something, and as a parting gift, here’s a picture of a cute kitten. Celebrate your next rejection with it. We all deserve a little fun.
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cosmolinguistI had a lot of them today and they were mostly exhausting, but
The train manager on the train to Euston told us what platform we'd come in to (making it clear that there might be a last-minute change!), what side the doors would open on, how to get to the Underground and even buses and taxis. Since it's a station I know well, I could verify that everything he was saying was the right amount and kind of information that would've helped me if I hadn't known that and needed to.
I'm not sure this is what was going on because it might not have been working that way but... I think that there was a new feature over the two accessible toilet doors in Euston: there were big lights over the doors, one was red and one was green, so I assumed this meant one was locked and one is open. Like I said my experience made this kinda confusing but it at least made me think it'd be a really good idea! At the moment I have to look for a teeny circle near the lock/handle of the door and determine whether it's white or red. Which, in dim locations like you get at Euston, can be surprisingly difficult! And I feel like an idiot trying my key in a locked door and I don't like to stress out the occupant -- I at least find it stressful when I'm in there and hear someone trying the door, suddenly unsure that I locked it or that it has stayed locked. If a big red or green light over the door could be relied on and rolled out, that'd be great.
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Which of these look interesting?
New Edge Sword & Sorcery Magazine: Volume I, Number 5 edited by Oliver Brackenbury (December 2025)
3 (11.5%)
New Edge Sword & Sorcery Magazine: Volume I, Number 6 edited by Oliver Brackenbury (December 2025)
3 (11.5%)
New Edge Sword & Sorcery Magazine: Volume I, Number 7 edited by Oliver Brackenbury (December 2025)
2 (7.7%)
Black River Ruby by Jean Cottle (January 2026)
7 (26.9%)
The Flowers of Algorab by Nils Karlén, Kosta Kostulas, and Martin Grip (January 2026)
8 (30.8%)
Headlights by C J Leede (June 2026)
4 (15.4%)
Some other option (see comments)
0 (0.0%)
Cats!
21 (80.8%)
james_davis_nicollcosmolinguistMom and Dad told me tonight about two friends of my brother's, and one of them's mom who was the school nurse at the time so knows all of us as well as being the mom of his friend, who she's run into lately who told her they always remember Chris at this time of year.
Two of the three apparently said especially that it was twenty years this year, and my mom was surprised that they remembered that specifically. But I have a couple friends about my age who had schoolfriends die when they were in school or soon after, and they certainly remember the person and how long it's been. We are lucky enough to live in an age when child/young person death is rare enough to stand out.
The school nurse mom even told my mom about how her daughter's kids know about him because the daughter has a Christmas ornament with a photo of my brother on it which my parents had made and handed out to people the Christmas after (I got one too, in my terrible flat in West Didsbury, but I never really wanted it and lost it along the way). The kids know about all the ornaments on their tree so they know this one is for "Mom's friend who died a long time ago." I love that.
On a kinda rough day, before two days in London for work that I'm dreading, this was a nice moment.
Their mom and my brother had been friends since kindergarten, when she was one of the girls who called him Kissyfur after a cartoon of that time, and who he used to entertain by doing stuff like pretending not to notice when the girls put snow in his hat and he put it on anyway so they could all laugh.
She sang at his funeral, which is such a gift to be able to offer a peer, when you're only twenty-one.
james_davis_nicoll
cosmolinguistangelofthenorth gave me my birthday presents today! I thanked her and said I was surprised because it's not my birthday yet. But V and I always have a joint party - after their birthday and before mine - and that's today.
She sensibly pointed out that they won't see me for my birthday, as I'll be off doing family xmas things by then.
So, yeah, why not, today's my birthday.
james_davis_nicoll - Merry Christmas for Poilievre!james_davis_nicoll - Looking Back at the Work of John Varley, 1947-2025james_davis_nicoll - The Wayfinder by Adam Johnsonjames_davis_nicoll - John Varley (1947 - 2025)james_davis_nicoll - We seem to have read different booksjames_davis_nicoll - Summer of Love (Zhu Wong, volume 1) by Lisa Masonjames_davis_nicoll - Arthur D. Hlavaty (1942 - 2025)cosmolinguist - I wanted to be a bear, now I just want to hibernatejames_davis_nicoll - Bundle of Holding: Magical Kittiesmount_oregano - Don’t just say nojames_davis_nicoll - To The Warm Horizon by Choi Jin-Young (Translated by Soje)james_davis_nicoll - A Witch's Guide to Magical Innkeeping by Sangu Mandannacosmolinguist - Good things about my train journeyjames_davis_nicoll - Bundle of Holding: Forged 3james_davis_nicoll - Five Freshly Reprinted SFF Books and Seriesjames_davis_nicoll - Books Received, November 29 — December 5james_davis_nicoll - Well, this was weirdcosmolinguist - "mom's friend a long time ago."james_davis_nicoll - Space Skimmer by David Gerroldcosmolinguist - (observed)winterfishtimeasmymeasure
