Tag: rejection

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”

What Happens to Rejected Stories?

Recently, it came to my attention that when I say “I have almost 800 rejections”, some folks think YOU’VE HAD 800 STORIES REJECTED?! That’s understandable without context, especially if you’re not in the biz. It did get me thinking, though. Just how many distinct… Continue Reading “What Happens to Rejected Stories?”

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”

The Daily NO – Halloween Special

Today on The Daily NO, we’re celebrating Halloween by looking at all the rejections I’ve received on the spookiest day of the year. However, to my shock and surprise, in over 12 years and nearly 1,000 submissions, I have received exactly ONE rejection on… Continue Reading “The Daily NO – Halloween Special”

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!”

Ten Years of Rejectomancy: Year Five – Consistency is Key

I set a lot of personal submission records in 2018 (year four), and though year five wasn’t nearly as good, I maintained both a solid number of submissions and a respectable number of acceptances. In other words, I was consistent, and that’s not a… Continue Reading “Ten Years of Rejectomancy: Year Five – Consistency is Key”