Finally, some good news. The New Kid (savagely rejected recently with Doorways magazine after they had it for FIVE MONTHS) was just short listed for the John Kenneth Galbraith Literary Award. There are twelve finalists for the award, so there’s still a long ways to go yet. In fact, odds are not in my favor (more on that below).
Last year, the winner won $1000. Not bad.
The fact that I’ve been short listed is pretty cool. The New Kid did not win the recent In Places Between Contest…which is a genre contest. This current contest, is not. So the fact that I placed is rewarding on its own (literary likes to keep to literary, genre likes to keep to genre) and will keep my chances of winning a long shot. Still, a long shot is better than no shot.
Though I usually post my notable rejections here, I didn’t post the one from Doorways. I was simply too angry about it. The New Kid is a short story at 3000 words. That’s a quick read. Would take you from five to ten minutes. The comment I got back from Doorways (after five months) is that I should pare it down to 1200 words. 1200. You have it for five months then waste my time with that kind of feedback?
I didn’t post that rejection because it would start me on a rant (which I feel bubbling even now). Needless to say, it really pissed me off. Not only did they keep my story for five months (which meant I couldn’t send it elsewhere for five months) but the criticism was so unfounded…
Ack. Okay, not going to talk about that.
But being a finalist is very pleasing — because it means that Doorways was just one opinion (which is sometimes a hard thing to convince yourself) and that others would find merit in what I thought was a good short story.
The finalist will be announced October 18th. Wish me luck.