There’s no feeling like it. Finishing a story that you know is good. You’re ready to send it to a publisher right away. But then you hesitate. You’ve received so many rejection notes but each one stabs you afresh when another one comes. Still, you know this story’s good. You’ve managed to do something different than you usually do. Will they, can they appreciate it for what it is? I’ve managed to have thirty stories published—averaging one per every two years I’ve been on this planet. The rejection numbers are beyond a one-to-one correspondence. And yet, I know this story’s good. Fiction publishing’s all about convincing some editor you don’t know that you do know. You know your own writing. I write many stories that aren’t publishable. Writing’s that way. When I do manage a good one I’m like a kid on Christmas morning. It takes thick skin, they say, to be a writer. My question is should it? Of course, there are lots of would-be writers out there. You’d
Blog of a struggling writer.