My anti-resume

In response to my post about Monica Byrne's tracking process, Independent Clause says:

I love the anti resume! I do not have anything near the math skills to figure out what my personal rejection rate is, but I'll try some awkward poet math and see what I come up with. I'll post mine if you post yours.

Heh, you're definitely going to win this one. Prior to this year, I submitted pitifully little: Agni and maybe Ploughshares right out of grad school. Some random online things: something called My Geek in the House that paid me $10 minus PayPal fees and then went bust. The Boston Theater Marathon off and on for several years.

But as of this year...

Boston Theater Marathon XV:
Accepted!
Hovey Summer Shorts Festival 2013:
Accepted!
Moments of Play Ten-Minute Play Festival:
Rejected
VisionFest 2013:
Rejected
Blue Slipper 10-Minute Play Festival:
They cancelled the festival indefinitely...? Not sure how to classify this.
Hit & Run VII:
Rejected
New Works Festival 2014:
Rejected

So that's two of out seven: ~28% acceptance? Or 33% if we're not counting ten-minute play festivals that died before their time through no (apparent) fault of my own. However, it does seem that I'm driving my average down by continuing to submit...

I actually had to look up several of these to find out whether or not I had been rejected. Turns out I've been so busy writing that I haven't had the time to compulsively hit "refresh" on all those festival websites.

That's a good thing!

Alright, Indy Clause. Your turn. Be gentle.

Keepin' track of what and where

Happy Friday!

Writer and playwright Monica Byrne (who I discovered through the blog of playwright and actress Emily Kaye Lazzaro) posted an amazing piece about success and rejection:

1. Of all the things I’ve ever submitted to or applied for, I’ve gotten 3% of them.
2. I’ve been rejected before being accepted. See: FringeNYC, Millay Colony for the Arts, Shimmer, Impact Theatre, North Carolina Arts Council Fellowship.
3. I’ve been rejected after being accepted. See: Durham Emerging Artist Grant, and God knows more to come.
4. A work’s rejection rate has no clear relationship to its eventual success. In various guises, The Girl in the Road and What Every Girl Should Know have each been rejected 67 times.
5. Of all submissions I made to theaters that accepted unsolicited submissions, 68% never replied at all.
6. My personal rejection rate is 17%, which is great and kept me afloat a number of times. (Thank you, anyone who ever took the time to write me.)
7. Yes, I’ve written exactly one erotica story. It’s about a trip to the ophthalmologist. It’s great.
8. The same week my huge publishing deal went down, I was rejected from the third of three MFA programs I’d applied to. C’est la vie!

Read the rest here!

In particular, be sure to look at the spreadsheet she uses to keep track of what she's submitted and where. Wow.

If that doesn't inspire you to up your game, I'm uncertain anything will.

See you Sunday with Week 25's story!