Rejected some mo'
I’m a sucker for good luck. Bad luck runs in the family, so whenever I find a forgotten penny on the sidewalk I pick it up and put it in my pocket.
Some people say it’s only good luck when Abe’s portrait is up, like he’s smiling on you, and others say the monument side possesses the luck. It’s a penny to me, which means luck, even if it’s miniscule. I always whisper the line — “Find a penny, pick it up, all day long you’ll have good luck” — when I hold it in my hand. There may not be any foundation to it, but my mindset changes for the better, and good things come with positive brain waves.
Yesterday I found a penny next to the curb on my street (the street isn’t pictured, but the penny is).
Even if my good luck doesn’t directly affect me that day, I think somewhere in the world something went my way. In time, whatever happened comes around to make me happy. Nothing especially good happened yesterday, but I knew I had a little luck somehow, and I knew it had nothing to do with my writing career.
This morning I checked my email after rolling out of bed and found two rejection letters waiting for me, both sent Saturday. Great way to start the day, huh?
So, I went oh for three this month. Here are the details:
Cosmopsis Quarterly
Submitted “Farther West” on 8/25/07
Rejected on 9/23/07
Insitu
Submitted “Lessons” on 8/29/07
Rejected on 9/23/07
BREVITY
Submitted “Overflow” on 9/6/07
Rejected on 9/14/07
I wrote down each date, so don’t think I remembered them off the top of my head, even though I probably could since they’re so recent.
The positive thing about being rejected is it frees up the piece I submitted and allows me to send it elsewhere. All I have to do is whip up a couple query letters and send the stories off once again. That’s the fun of being a writer; you get rejected and then say, “Well, let’s try the ________.” I’m going to fill that blank with The Iowa Review for one of my stories. Oooh, that’d be sweet. And they pay.
About those rejection letters: I printed them out and tacked them to the wall next to my closet, where I do toe-raises every day. They’re good motivation.
Some people say it’s only good luck when Abe’s portrait is up, like he’s smiling on you, and others say the monument side possesses the luck. It’s a penny to me, which means luck, even if it’s miniscule. I always whisper the line — “Find a penny, pick it up, all day long you’ll have good luck” — when I hold it in my hand. There may not be any foundation to it, but my mindset changes for the better, and good things come with positive brain waves.
Yesterday I found a penny next to the curb on my street (the street isn’t pictured, but the penny is).
Even if my good luck doesn’t directly affect me that day, I think somewhere in the world something went my way. In time, whatever happened comes around to make me happy. Nothing especially good happened yesterday, but I knew I had a little luck somehow, and I knew it had nothing to do with my writing career.
This morning I checked my email after rolling out of bed and found two rejection letters waiting for me, both sent Saturday. Great way to start the day, huh?
So, I went oh for three this month. Here are the details:
Cosmopsis Quarterly
Submitted “Farther West” on 8/25/07
Rejected on 9/23/07
Insitu
Submitted “Lessons” on 8/29/07
Rejected on 9/23/07
BREVITY
Submitted “Overflow” on 9/6/07
Rejected on 9/14/07
I wrote down each date, so don’t think I remembered them off the top of my head, even though I probably could since they’re so recent.
The positive thing about being rejected is it frees up the piece I submitted and allows me to send it elsewhere. All I have to do is whip up a couple query letters and send the stories off once again. That’s the fun of being a writer; you get rejected and then say, “Well, let’s try the ________.” I’m going to fill that blank with The Iowa Review for one of my stories. Oooh, that’d be sweet. And they pay.
About those rejection letters: I printed them out and tacked them to the wall next to my closet, where I do toe-raises every day. They’re good motivation.
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