A Short Story Writer's Favorite Words

What a great way to start the weekend, or any day for that matter. An email pops up in my Inbox with a short sentence that brings a smile to my face:

"Thank you for this story, which we are delighted to accept."

This mail comes just three weeks after I received a similar mail:

"We'd love to run this story. Thank you for submitting it."

Two stories accepted in three weeks' time! Reading these mails, I feel a sense of accomplishment. They're a sign that all my efforts have been worthwhile. I have been writing short stories these past four years and my creative efforts have been appreciated.

You would think that becoming a successful short story writer is something easy to achieve. Well, it's not.

This mail arrived just two days ago:

"Thank you for your recent submission. Regrettably, we are unable to find a place for it in our next issue, and we're going to have to pass at this time."

And this one last week:

"Thank you for sending us your story. We appreciate the chance to read it. Unfortunately, the piece is not for us."

And another:

"... Unfortunately, this piece isn't the right fit for us."

And another:

"We appreciated the chance to read it. Although there was a lot to like here, it didn't quite come together for us in the end, and we regret to pass."

Rejection after rejection, all of them impersonal form rejections, outnumbering accepted pieces by a wide margin.

My statistics for 2022 so far: 126 submissions, 8 acceptances. That is actually a very high success rate, and I'm quite proud of myself.

(Note: Nearly all of these were simultaneous submissions. I did not write 126 short stories.)

Five of my stories have already been published this year, and three more will be published soon.

In the meantime, I'll keep writing and submitting, and hoping for the next email that says, "We'd love to run this story."

Photo by Kaitlyn Baker on Unsplash