11 of 100 Rejections

 

An update on publishing rejections for my short fiction and essay submissions. Between the time I posted a notice here yesterday about receiving 10 rejections and a mere few hours later, a form letter came to my inbox saying thanks but no thanks to a work of flash fiction I had sent to a literary journal that I admire. The average response time on pieces sent to this journal is three to four months. I was able to elicit a rejection in six days. I went back and checked out the form letter I sent. Had I written there, "Please reject this work as soon as possible"? No, I hadn't. I checked out the story I had sent. Had I written the story to the best of my abilities? Yes, I had. I hadn't cheated, then. I had done my best and failed, and yet I was still able to elicit a six-day form letter when usually the journal responds in three to four months. I take that as an accomplishment. Another loss ticked on the rejection thermometer. 11 of 100 rejections. 89 to go before the New Year.