Answers for Writers, Parents, and Former Children
Gotcha with the title, didn’t I? This is not my work, but a piece I edited for jmww journal. (Title in lower-case, indicating depth and literary quality.) It’s by Richard Prins. My Hangover … is Prins’s second piece for me. Come back for his debauched rumble, Already Yesterday.
I received an additional two rejections, but also the acceptance. The flash essay “Hong Kong, My Twenties” will run in the next issue of Under the Gum Tree.
Submissions: 131
Acceptances: 3
Rejections: 114
Good Rejections: 32
Publications 1
In a red-letter day for rejections – five – I went beyond my wildest rejection dreams. I received two rejections for short pieces and three rejections from literary agents for my novel.
I’m of the philosophy that writers who aim for 100 rejections a year get rejected more because we send out more. But we also get published more – because we send out more.
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In other news, my short story that was accepted by Dale Peck for Evergreen Review is supposed to run any day/week. The story, “The Great Ultimate,” is an adaptation of one chapter from the novel I am currently trying to place. My hope is that agents read this respected magazine and will call me, for once.
The Days of Awe are the ten days between the new year, Rosh ha Shanna, and the final day of awe, Yom Kippur. Jews, so goes the law, have these ten days to make right anything from the year just ending. Then, on Yom Kippur, so-called Day of Atonement, you can stand (as I think of it) At-One-ment with God.
It is a marvelous yearly cycle that keeps me up to date with my amends and my humanity.
Graphic by the artist Noam Weiner. The Hebrew letters read: Shana Tova, meaning, “a good and sweet year.” Say it to a Jew! (Graphic by Noam Weiner. The Hebrew letters spell, “Shana Tova” a good and sweet year.)
Today was a day that I felt like a true pro. I edited other people’s work. I worked on my short story with Dale Peck (which was okay, if you go for that sort of thing … ). I received a rejection from an agent, a good rejection from a magazine (“Please send us more.” Booby Prize!). I received referrals to two agents, and as the day was ending , I saw that I was quoted in an article on Well+Good.com about my almost-favorite topic, perimenopausal depression.
After reading my blurb about my novel on Facebook, an agent Tweeted, asking to see the full manuscript.
