All authors looking to get traditionally published must endure the submission process. Novelists must query and write synopses. Writers of shorter works must follow submission guidelines for periodicals and anthologies, no two of which agree on formatting rules. It’s exhausting. Submission fatigue is a real thing. Writers need to recognize it and address it.
Workshops, podcasts, books, articles, and social media groups everywhere tell you that you must keep submitting. A writer must always have something out there getting looked at by somebody for publication. Get a rejection, submit to the next market on your list.
You have a list, right? You keep a database with an entry for each piece you’ve written and a list of available markets where you can get them published, right? With each story, you send it off to your first choice and then on down the list until someone says yes.
I have a list. I keep an Excel spreadsheet with a page for each story and I track where each goes when, who says yes, who responds when it’s a no, who has really quirky submission rules, etc. Sure, there are sites like Query Tracker that can do that, too. Duotrope will track your submissions (as long as it’s a market they list). But you still have to submit your writing.
Bottom line, it’s a lot of work. Submission fatigue is real.
How does one deal with submission fatigue? To each their own but I deal with it best by writing something new. Or I edit a draft. I give more time to the craft and let the business take a backseat for a while. A writer can’t ignore the business side–not if they want their work widely read or want to meet the entry requirements of certain professional associations–but one can let it have some alone time whenever it starts getting clingy.
