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Saturday, January 1, 2022

2021 - My Writing Year in Review

2021, for me, was a year of short stories. Writing them and submitting them. The seven stories that were published online in 2021 are listed below. Twelve of my stories are included in Rakiya, my collection of short stories set in Bulgaria. That manuscript is now on submission with literary agents and independent publishers.

My main success of 2021 was having Rakiya selected as a finalist in the Eyelands Book Awards 2021 - an international contest for published/unpublished books based in Greece. While the collection did not win the contest, it is an honor that it made the shortlist.

I continued my habit of sitting in the Aroma coffee shop in the early morning, writing on my laptop before starting my work day. Due to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, I work most of the week remotely from home, so the number of times I came to Tel Aviv to sit in Aroma was limited. A good portion of my writing time was spent researching online literary journals and publishers suitable for my submissions.

Some writers keep track of statistics – how many stories they submitted and how many were accepted for publication. So, here are mine. In 2021, I made 122 short story submissions (many of them simultaneous submissions of the same story). 20 stories were withdrawn (having been accepted elsewhere); 78 story submissions were rejected; and 6 stories were accepted for publication.

As 2022 begins, a number of my short stories are ‘on submission’ and I am hopeful that one day soon they will be published. Hopefully there will be positive responses to my submission of Rakiya as well.

Thank you for taking the time to read my stories and share my writing career!

 

The Muse - CommuterLit.com 

Lockdown - Literary Yard           

Sozopol - The Write Launch

Three Women in Sofia - Literary Yard

Applesauce - Bright Flash Literary Review

Nocturnal Visitors - Across the Margin

The Magician - Mad Swirl

Photo by Markus Winkler on Unsplash

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