Category: My Work

Swings & Misses V: The Rejection Streak Returns

Anecdotally, a good acceptance rate for short fiction tends to be around ten percent. With regards to rejections, that percentage generally works out to a statistically consistent ten to fifteen noes in a row . . . except when it doesn’t, and you go… Continue Reading “Swings & Misses V: The Rejection Streak Returns”

The Millennial Milestone – 1,000 Submissions!

A few days ago, I hit a submission milestone more than a decade in the making. Yep, 1,000 submissions. It’s been a long road with a lot of ups and downs, but it feels pretty damn good to see that giant round number on… Continue Reading “The Millennial Milestone – 1,000 Submissions!”

2026 Writing Goals Bingo

Last year, I set a number of short fiction writing goals for myself that I represented in a bingo card as a fun bit of motivation and to have a snazzy graphic for blog posts. Though, at the end of the year, I did… Continue Reading “2026 Writing Goals Bingo”

2025: A Short Fiction Rearview Review

Welp, 2025 is over, and it’s time to tally up my submissions, rejections, and acceptances and see how I did. I set some lofty goals for the year, and though I fell short of more than one of them, it wasn’t a terrible year,… Continue Reading “2025: A Short Fiction Rearview Review”

Ten Years of Rejectomancy – ALL the Numbers

So, this is truly the final post in my Ten Years of Rejectomancy series. As promised, I’m gonna give you ALL the numbers for each year and then a total of subs, rejections, and acceptances for the entire decade (plus the years before and… Continue Reading “Ten Years of Rejectomancy – ALL the Numbers”

Ten Years of Rejectomancy: Year Ten – A Decade of Denial

Welp, here we are. Ten years of Rejectomancy. It’s been a long and bumpy road, and year ten certainly had its ups and downs, but it feels good to say I’ve been doing this for a decade, and I have no plans to stop.… Continue Reading “Ten Years of Rejectomancy: Year Ten – A Decade of Denial”

Ten Years of Rejectomancy: Year Nine – A Question of Querying

Peaks and valleys. That’s the best way to describe the submission experience and my own meandering path as a writer. I’ve had some exceptional years where it felt like every story I submitted had a legit shot at publication, and then I’ve had years… Continue Reading “Ten Years of Rejectomancy: Year Nine – A Question of Querying”

Ten Years of Rejectomancy: Year Eight – Solid and Serviceable

Although 2021 wasn’t a terrible year for submissions, I definitely went into 2022 hoping to improve, and in some ways I did. Mostly, though, I kind of held course with a solid but not exceptional year. There’s nothing wrong with that, but it was… Continue Reading “Ten Years of Rejectomancy: Year Eight – Solid and Serviceable”

Ten Years of Rejectomancy: Year Seven – The Whiplash Effect

There’s a phenomena in baseball and other professional sports where a player, usually a rookie, has a fantastic inaugural season, goes into the next season with massive expectations, and then, well, puts up mediocre numbers to huge surprise and disappointment. This is often called… Continue Reading “Ten Years of Rejectomancy: Year Seven – The Whiplash Effect”

Ten Years of Rejectomancy: Year Six – Best Year EVAR!

When I set out to write this series, I knew I’d be writing openly and honestly about the ups and downs of the publishing business as well as the grueling grind of submitting short stories. As such, I’ve detailed decent years, disappointing years, and,… Continue Reading “Ten Years of Rejectomancy: Year Six – Best Year EVAR!”