Most of the time, my writing is met with indifference or even manic hatred. Publishers, afraid for the sanctity of their publications and desperately defensive of their need to make money and eat, often reject my stories. The following is a list of my shame:
March 3, 2012 – A Fair Warning About the Dangers of Messin’ Around with Evil Things was rejected by Midnight Screaming. No no…I’m not crying. My allergies are just acting up again. I swear.
November 22, 2011 – Hair for Charity was rejected by The Dirty Napkin. That’s back-to-back refusals from those folks, a two-punch if you will. It’s like Billy and Jimmy Lee are all up on my ass.
November 21, 2011 – A Fair Warning About the Dangers of Messin’ Around With Evil Things done got reeeeeejected by The Dirty Napkin. Reckon I’m disappointed ’bout that.
October 22, 2011 – A Fair Warning About the Dangers of Messin’ Around With Evil Things has been rejected by the fine folks at Big Pulp. We have this kind of love/hate thing going on.
June 1, 2011 – Hair for Charity rejected…again. This time by those bastards and whores over at Bastards and Whores.
February 10, 2011 – The Squirrels denied publication by the folks over at SMASH CAKE. (Sigh.)
February 7, 2011 – Miriam’s Greatest Fear rejected by Story Quarterly. (They held on to this one for more than six months. Lordy.)
May 17, 2010 – Missing Teeth rejected by Neurotic Tissue. (The story made their “shortlist,” which is awesome. I’ll try again with something new next submission period.)
May 14, 2010 – Hair for Charity rejected by Untied Shoelaces of the Mind.
May 13, 2010 – Miriam’s Greatest Fear (formerly Miriam and Miss Flannery, formerly Miss Flannery) is rejected by Bananafish. (Apparently this one isn’t going over so well)
May 11, 2010 – Miriam and Miss Flannery (formerly Miss Flannery) is rejected by The Dirty Napkin.
May 2, 2010 – Hair for Charity rejected by McSweeney’s Internet Tendency
April 22, 2010 – Miss Flannery rejected by Untied Shoelaces of the Mind.
April 11, 2010 - Lips, Tongue and Breath is rejected by Vestal Review
March 10, 2010 – Just One is rejected by Flash Me Magazine
Feb. 25, 2010 – My Second Roommate is “declined” by Space Squid.
Feb. 23, 2010 – A Warning to Jason Masula Regarding the Evils of “Magic: The Gathering” is “declined” by Space Squid. (More crap where that came from.)
Feb. 20, 2010 – Small Change is rejected by Every Day Fiction. (Once again, their comments are helpful.)
Feb. 19, 2010 – Kaiju in the Big City is rejected by Every Day Fiction. (Though they kindly critiqued it.)
Dec. 12, 2009 – Kaiju in the Big City rejected by Flash Fiction Online.
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Why do I find your long list of rejections so inspirational? Now I’m going to have to read the stuff that got accepted.
Ha! I hope my failures spur success for others.
You know, when I first started blogging here, I thought it would be nice for people to see just how frequently people get rejected. It happens all the flipping time. And it’s not necessarily an indication of quality or anything like that; more than once one of my stories has been rejected by two or three publications only to be published, without change, somewhere else. It’s just all part of it.
You know, since most writers are rejected far more often than accepted, it’s kind of like being one of the cool kids…the popular crowd. That’s really the first time I can ever claim something like that.
I’m not sure if that makes me feel better or worse, tell the truth.
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