What does this mean? (story rejection)

Dear Alvin,

Thank you for sending "Ms. vs. the Tooth Fairy" to CICADA. Although this particular story isn’t a good fit, we enjoyed reviewing your lively tale of the Tooth Fairy with the blonde locks and tooth-touching, unsanitary hands. We hope you will try us again. In publishing, as in life, persistence is the key!

In the meantime, if you’d like the opportunity to have your work posted on the Internet and critiqued by other CICADA readers, you might consider submitting to The Slam. As our online forum for teen writers, The Slam accepts electronic submissions—poetry up to 50 lines and short fiction and creative nonfiction up to 800 words—from writers ages 14 through 23. Because we receive so many original works, only a select few are included on the site, but every relevant critique is posted. You can become a part of The Slam by visiting www.cicadamag.com/theslam, where you may fill out an entry form or add your comments to any of the posted submissions, also known as “slammables.”

You might also want to check out Creative Endeavors at www.cicadamag.com/submitwork. Our current theme is Maps.

Thanks again for your interest in CICADA, Alvin!

Best regards,

Debby

Deborah Vetter
Executive Editor, CICADA

A good rejection huh? It did make me feel good to know that she actually read the story, found some good things about it, instead of tossing it aside like an old rag doll, like most zines do. She misspelled "Me." T_T it was called Me vs. the Tooth Fairy. But that was the old version of it. Since then, I revised it but I'm not sure where to submit humorous short stories --ones that won't take OVER 6 months. That reply roasted wayyyy past their six-month claim. I can understand that they have a lot of papers to read --which is why it takes over half a year for them to accept a short, but damn. O_O 3 months over? *Chuckles maniacally." I assumed 3 months over was a good thing, but then it turns out to be a rejection D::: The good thing about this was that my revision didn't totally go to waste. (Yeah... I rewrote it again, out of boredom, months later because they were taking too long and I was busy submitting other projects and racking up rejections. I really need to find a way to build an audience.... right now, no one knows I exist...being unpublished is not doing good for me.. )