- Joined
- Oct 25, 2011
- Messages
- 621
- Reaction score
- 48
So, I've received over 100 rejections this past year for short stories. Some form, a few personal. I've had a few acceptances as well (just a few). Then I got a personal rejection from Ploughshares that, well, I wasn't sure how to interpret.
Ploughshares has a guest editor each issue. The guest editor solicits 50% of their content, and the other half is chosen from work that the regular staff recommends for their consideration. Well, I guess my story was one of the "offered" stories to the guest editor, who decided against it. So I got this wonderful personal rejection from the head fiction editor at Ploughshares, informing me that herself and other editors enjoyed the story and the character, but, ultimately, the guest editor decided against it.
So this completely crushed me...to come this close and fail. I wasn't sure whether to celebrate or to break down in defeat. I haven't been able to write anything since.
Ploughshares has a guest editor each issue. The guest editor solicits 50% of their content, and the other half is chosen from work that the regular staff recommends for their consideration. Well, I guess my story was one of the "offered" stories to the guest editor, who decided against it. So I got this wonderful personal rejection from the head fiction editor at Ploughshares, informing me that herself and other editors enjoyed the story and the character, but, ultimately, the guest editor decided against it.
So this completely crushed me...to come this close and fail. I wasn't sure whether to celebrate or to break down in defeat. I haven't been able to write anything since.