Yes there are times when I will submit articles to directories. But there are many other better ways to get high quality backlinks to your site. So, it's up to you if you are patient enough to wait for them to approve your articles, or just use free web 2.0 platforms to publish your articles.
I do submit articles to directories. I like the free backlinks I get from them and also other webmasters pick up my articles and put them on their sites/blogs and I get even more backlinks.