On Simultaneously Broadcast Spreading

Eh. Title didn't go where I thought it might.

2 more rejections today--one prose, one poetry (one from my undergrad alma mater even). That's 9 this last month. Out of 22 sent out since 8/20. Indeed, 22 is a lot, and this doesn't include a few contests. I know many editors, even those on a certain someone's PhD committee, would scold me harshly for this.

For 2 years I tried this strategy: actually reading several copies of the journal and in my cover letter stating what pieces I enjoyed. I also told the editor that I would not submit the work to anyone else until I heard back from them. This resulted in a severe dry spell of getting work accepted.

So now I'm back to blanket coverages. And I'm even sending sims to places that say they refuse them. Why? Cuz I likely won't get accepted anyway, and because this is a problem I'd love to have: namely, someone saying yes.

I suppose this could, theoretically, put me on some publication's black list, but how many publications are there? And when I get mine some day, they'll come knocking regardless. This may be an idiotic theory, but so is the idea that if I get a piece published it'll be read. And if I get enough pieces published it may incline a book publisher to think I have an audience, some marketability. Which I won't. Because no one will read the book either. Not trying to be dark here, but you know how it works.

I guess what I'm saying is that as I do this year after year, I realize only one thing really matters--my nose to the page, my fingers on the keyboard. In the end that's the hardest and most wonderful thing to do.