Yesterday I was going thru the forums and found a link someone posted (I think it was Celeste) to an article about clarity. I did not understand exactly what that meant until I read the article and then the light bulb came on. The article was well written and easy to understand.
In proofing something I haven't yet submitted, I discovered a couple of sentences that probably would have made Ed's clarity buzzer go off. I experienced an a-ha moment and rewrote the sentences.
I wish I'd downloaded that article to my reference folder as I'm sure I'll want to revisit it. Now I cannot find it. I don't think the link to it was stickied.
Didn't see the article I was referring to but I did find a similar one in the CC docs you referenced. Thank you, Ed.
I should know better than to not bookmark or download info I know I'll want to reference again. The day I read it I'd been so busy online that even my history list failed to help me relocate it.
I've actually created a folder where I download info to reference again. Bookmarks only help if the web page doesn't go away at some point. The folder is growing as I save answers about article length, clarity, revisions, when to submit seasonal pieces, and a few other tidbits.
I've had a problem with Constant Content for quite some time. My last submission which was on roleplaying games, gave the very short and less than helpful statement, "We do not accept content with grammar errors." Talk about no clarity...
I went back and checked my grammar. Again. Funny thing was there weren't any grammar errors.
What I suspect was the way roleplaying was put all together as one word. In the arena of roleplaying games, it's done all of the time. Look up roleplaying games in Google. You'll find it written at least three different ways and in the arena of roleplaying games, it's normally all one word. Helps to understand the hobby.
I just found it a little ironic that this thread was on clarity yet the responses given in rejections are the epitome of being the exact opposite.
I of course have no idea why your article was rejected, but my guess is if it had to do with the word "roleplaying," that would count more as a spelling issue than a grammar issue. One thing I do know is that if you get too close to your own writing, it can become extremely difficult to spot mistakes. You might want to let someone else, whose grammar is good, take a look at the article. A fresh look might turn up something you missed -- it happens to us all.
My grammar is pretty good seeing as I've been writing for quite some time and getting paid to do it. I don't say that arrogantly but just as a point of reference. I'm far from beyond being an amateur.
However, I know I'm fallible. I spot mistakes in my writing regularly...and I fix them as I did in this case. I won't resubmit the article here. I'll sell it some where else. But you're right. Writers do tend to get very close to their writing. I'm not the exception there but in this case, some one dropped the ball. No biggie.
Just curious as to why you won't resubmit the corrected article here? If the errors are fixed, resubmitting shouldn't be a problem.
Also, I saw your post on another thread where you said something about publishers being less picky than CC. That is true. I have other clients that don't mind the occasional typo or minor mistake. Some have editors on staff that go through each article, making sure that the article conforms to their specific standards and correcting minor mistakes. One client even has fact checkers and runs all articles past their legal departments to make sure that the content passes muster from a legal point of view. (Of course, if articles have too many errors, they burden the editorial staff which could lead to something worse than the occasional article rejection or revision request: no future assignments).
The difference with CC and other publishers is that CC isn't accepting articles to publish on its own site; CC is accepting articles to sell to other publishers. It would be impossible to apply the same editorial resources to articles submitted under consideration here due to the sheer quantity of submissions. Thus, we writers need to self-edit because no one else is on staff to do it for us.
And to answer your question, the reason why I won't resubmit it is because there's nothing to fix. I'm not trying to be difficult. Really. As a matter of fact, it's been days since I looked at that article and after seeing the form rejection once again, I went back to check it. There's nothing there. I found a spacing error and as I mentioned before, I spell roleplaying all as one word. The definition is not grammatically correct per se but it's a definition. That's pretty much it unless I'm going blind. Since it wasn't a submission for a listing, I could just construct a decent query and find a home for it somewhere else...I hope.
I'm sure I'll come up with another idea to submit. But I'm not too keen on writing full articles without being assigned to get paid for them on top of having them rejected and my time wasted. I'm past trying to break in to be published as a writer. Been there, done that. Many times.
I haven't written CC off but a brotha has gotta eat. I have to use my time to write those things that put food on the table and pays some bills.
Hang in there Prez, we ALL get rejections. I've sold almost 80% of what I have posted here, and I still get the "This article needs revision" rejections. It's not about being an amateur or a professional, it's about that one piece of writing needs improvement. Writing is such a personal profession, but if you are making it a career choice, you have to let the work stand on its own. What I mean is a rejection or judgement on an article or a book by an editor is not about you personally. It's about the piece, plain and simple.
True sometimes it doesn't make sense to spend more time on a piece if it isn't working for a specific outlet. I've had an article rejected twice because I was trying to take something that should be written first person and make it third person. It was a poor transformation. Rather than keep at it, I submitted it elsewhere, though for a fraction of what it would have netted here. I too got to the point where enough was enough. I was sick of looking at it.
So good luck and glad to hear you haven't given up on C-C.
Since I came back from OS I've had two articles rejected which has been very upsetting. The last one was rejected because it lacked 'coherence.' When I read it again I understood why, although I really think that it's easy to read, but I am not going to try to fix it and re-submit it here in case it is rejected again.
I've been writing for a long time and I have found it is becoming harder and harder to have my articles accepted here. Perhaps what I really need is a 'writing buddy'?
I have to use my time to write those things that put food on the table and pays some bills. 