Rejection

Been cranking out some short stories, and I have begun to work on a book. The book is roughly coming along, but for now I have been sticking to short stories. This helps me to sort of start small, and get the hang of organizing and pulling together not only the story, but developing characters.

I've sent out one story to several places, and it's been rejected by every single one. So I revised and rewrote some parts, but it kept getting rejected. I soon learned that if the e-mail or letter began thus:"Thank you for sending us blah, blah story, but..." the news was not going to be good, and I might as well stop reading right then. I started brooding: wondering if maybe I was just untalented, and not cut out to be a writer.

But as I looked over the story, it became clear to me why it was rejected, and I thought, no wonder it was not accepted. So I revised it again and sent it out to a couple more places, and the rejections began to get more encouraging. The editor would complement it, and tell me they are passing, but ask me to send more submissions in the future. One editor said she enjoyed it, but it didn't fit with their needs right now, and to not let it discourage me from trying to publish it elsewhere.

So for now I have put that particular short story aside to work on other stories, and on my book idea. I can tell I'm developing and getting better, and it feels great.

All those previous rejection letters will only make the first acceptance letter all the more sweet!