Long Time, No See

On two occasions I've waited for what I considered a long time for a publisher response and got lucky and unlucky. For both publications, I waited seven months before hearing from them. One accepted my submission, the other rejected my submission.

Waiting for weeks or months to find out that your work has been accepted is a great feeling. Waiting that long only to find out that your submission didn't cut the mustard is a disappointing feeling. Unfortunately, it's the nature of the business. Many publications are run as labors of love by a lone individual or by a small staff of volunteers. So it's inevitable that the passage of time will be longer at those publications than at ones with bigger staffs and bigger budgets to run them. Even those with sufficient staff need to read through the tons of submissions they receive.

Still, it doesn't take the sting out of a rejection, but knowing and understanding the market softens it.

Amongst my recent rejections was one acceptance! Bewildering Stories has once again published one of my stories! You can find it here. Hope you enjoy it.

Don't forget to check out the rest of the issue while you're there.