Hit 50 rejections on my short story submissions today

I started tracking in January and the counter just clicked over. Anyone else keep a running tally or do you just delete the emails and move on?

2 comments

2 Comments

joseph_baker29d ago

Actually keeping the tally is the only thing that keeps me going sometimes... it turns the pain into a numbers game where every no is just data, and data doesn't sting as much as words do. Plus after fifty you start noticing patterns, like which magazines actually read your stuff versus just sending form letters. Once you see that, it stops feeling personal and starts feeling like you're just running an experiment on the whole system.

robert2481mo ago

Wait, 50 rejections since January? That's only like... what, 10 or 11 months? That's a rejection every week or so. I can't imagine keeping track of that many nos without going a little crazy. I just delete the emails and try to forget about them honestly, it's easier on my mental health that way. But dang, 50 submissions in that timeframe is impressive on its own, you're clearly sending stuff out regularly which is more than a lot of people do. I'd be worried about wearing out my mailbox but you must have a thick skin by now.