Interesting. I share some of your experience, but had some more positive ones than you did as well. Half the publications I am a writer in, invited me to join, the other half accepted me after I applied. I actually don't keep my story in draft when submitting. I publish straight-away, then submit to the publication. So far 99% of the time nobody complained and story got accepted, so I didn't lose time at all and also became part of the publication. Publications that drag their feet, just don't get my submissions any more. I also noticed that some publications will deliberately do that because your story potentially represents a conflict of interest for their editor, who is also a writer who writes about the same topic. Politics... :/