Hi Sarah. I really do shoot for my “A” list and then work my way down about 99% of the time. My rationale is that if I sell a story to a lesser market then I’ll never know if it would have sold to a higher profile market. However, I am also realizing that a lot of what I’m writing nowadays doesn’t necessarily fit with those original “A” list places, so I’ve expanded my “A” list somewhat. But all of those places have national distribution, are highly competitive, and give you instant street cred.

Staying motivated is indeed hard, especially since I haven’t sold anything in about a year. I’m doing my best to keep my chin up, and I keep telling myself the next time I crack one of my “A” markets then I’ll be back on cloud nine.

What you might want to try, if you don’t do this already, is to write down a tiered list of A’s, B’s, C’s, and D’s. Shoot your stories through the A’s before trickling down to the B’s, and so on. What you don’t want to do is start at your C-level, or go from A to D. Trust your writing, even when it’s getting rejected. Hard to do, I know.

Homesickness set in yet? :)

I do have a serious question for you, though. I got tired of hearing rejections from my “A” list so I just started submitting to various places. This is GREAT in that, I got three publications this summer. But now I am frustrated that I didn’t get into any of my “stellar” journals and I am wondering how to inspire myself to do so.

Do you settle for pubs wherever or do you really shoot for your “A” list?

Dr. Phil