Rejection

Image courtesy of Stockvault.

The short story I’d worked on in December got rejected. In the form email I got, I was told there were 1400 submissions and only 22 stories that were accepted. It doesn’t make things easier.

I don’t know if I’ll ever do a story that’s tailored for an anthology again. A month’s effort went into it, and if it doesn’t get accepted, then that whole month is lost. On top of that, eight cents a word doesn’t quite pay for the labor involved. Unfortunately, eight cents a word is considered a “good” pay rate. Some places pay in royalties, others pay about five cents a word or less. Write a 5,000 word story, and that’s about $250 for a nickel a word, or $400 for eight cents a word.

But I also have to be careful about excessive negative thinking. It’s quite easy for me to focus on what I didn’t achieve rather than what I did achieve. I wrote a short story before deadline and submitted it. My name is out there for potential editors to consider. If I wrote something good enough, these people might be more receptive to a submission the next time around. Or, at the least, just a few more people know of me and my work.

Rejection isn’t easy to deal with. I’m handling it a little better this time than last time. All I can do is hope this is a continuing trend to where I don’t feel overwhelmed by it.