Ah, To Be Reviewed

Back in March, I was fortunate enough for a story of mine to be published in Sci Phi Journal. I was so excited about that on its own, but there was more to come with it. Having my story cataloged on ISFDB as well as being filed in the Royal Library of Belgium felt like two really big things. My story was going to be out there. You could find it. And by the way, I'd call it a shameless plug but I always feel shameful when I plug, if you haven't read my story, you can read it here.

But shameful plug aside, this was all great news for me. And then there was one other piece to it all, the issue and the stories in it were going to reviewed by Tangent Online. Reviewed? I'd never been reviewed before!

The review finally came out and I was excited to read it. As I said, I'd never been reviewed before, so it's not like I could expect the first one to be glowing, or to be scorching hot. I hoped it wouldn't be cold. And I honestly feel lucky to say, I got a nice, lukewarm review. It's short and sweet and it's positive.

Sure, not glowing. Standard ranting against bureaucratic red tape made me laugh, probably mostly because of the word "standard" but then also because I realized, yeah, that's me, ranting against those types of things, the government, the "overlords," etc. But they said there's life in the story, so hey, I love it! What do they say? Any press is good press? I've never had press before. So, I'll agree, it's great!

And if you'd like to read the reviews of all the stories in this issue, here you go.

This also got me to thinking of anytime I've received kind words on my work. Of course, I hear kind words from people I know, or semi-know, and that is fantastic. Don't get me wrong. I love it. But, you know, there's certain situations you have with people where you know they wouldn't say something unkind... maybe critical... but they aren't going to eviscerate you or your work. So, you expect... if you're going to hear words... they'll be at least fairly kind.

But there are publications that you can submit to, and they by no means have to say anything to you if they turn it down. Just a big ol' "Nope" and you don't get in. But sometimes, you get the kind words that they don't need to give you. They tell you how they enjoyed the story even though they didn't accept it. They tell you how you moved on through multiple rounds of judging, or how you were shortlisted, before ultimately not being selected. I love those too.

I've begun taking more note of them. I've started keeping track of what publications have had some form of "kind words" about my stories when they didn't have to, and what stories they were. No, this is not to inflate my ego... entirely. I mean, there's times where you have gotten rejected several dozen times in a row and it's a nice pick-me-up to go back and reread one of those. But I've kept track of them so that I can see, what publications do I have proof of actually liking my work? What stories have been "reviewed" kindly?

These are good things to know. If a publication liked some of your work, there's a great chance they'll like more of it. Maybe submitting to them again and again is a more successful attempt at getting published. If a story has had kind words said about it by one or more publications, then don't doubt that story. Keep submitting it.

I've had quite a few stories that have gotten kind words from one publication, and I even have one story that got the special treatment from two different publications. I honestly, previously thought that story was weaker than others. But it turns out, it's been enjoyed in a couple places. That's a good reminder too, you never quite know what someone else will like. Don't always put your "likes" in your own brain as "facts" because everyone thinks differently.

So, here I am, basking in my lukewarm review and my compiled sheet of all the compliments I've gotten from publications who have ultimately turned me down. It may sound funny, but it makes me happy. It keeps me positive. And I truly do find it to be helpful. Positivity is one of the best weapons of a writer. You've got to keep it on your hip for every battle. Even for the battles you know you're going to lose.