Tag: Rejection
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Rejection #21 – Response
Not gonna lie, this form rejection made me laugh. I’ve been primarily submitting speculative short fiction, but this particular piece is narrative nonfiction. This particular line just made me smile: “This time, however, we’re saying no.” “We’re saying no.” Love it. Love how direct it is. I love how they’re not pretending or sugar-coating the…
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Rejection #20 – Response
Rejection number twenty for the year came in on August 25th. It even came with a complimentary three-month subscription to the magazine, which is interesting. I know, I know, I should be reading deeply into the magazines I’m submitting to, but honestly, I can’t read every single magazine in existence. This is not to say…
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Rejection #19 – Response
So my flash piece was rejection again on August 12th. I am unsure of where to submit it next. I have another form rejection for the pile. I’ve said before that I don’t think this piece has the punch that publications would want from a flash piece. But this makes me think seriously: does every…
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Rejection #18 – Response
This is the second rejection I received on August 4th. This is also that story I recently got really good feedback for. I’ll keep working on this story, and I won’t be deterred by form rejections. Note on letter images: I have here and will always black out the name of the market and the…
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Rejection #17 – Response
August 4th was a day that existed. I got not one but two rejection letters that day. This one was for a flash fiction piece. I’m not sure how I feel about this piece, honestly, but we can’t always write a banger. I’m working on accepting that and moving on. Note on letter images: I…
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Rejection #16 – Response
The whiplash with rejections is kind of funny. Again, I received a rejection 7/18/2026 that actually didn’t hurt. I was a little sad that this story didn’t quite fit what they were looking for (or my writing still isn’t quite up to their standards given that it’s a form rejection), but it didn’t sting like…
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Rejection #15 – Response
Just when I thought I was getting used to this whole rejection cycle, this response came in, finally. I submitted this story January 28, 2026. This was the second story submission for the year, and the magazine got an insane number of submissions. In March, they updated their site to inform authors that they’re getting…
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Rejection #14 – Response
This post is slightly different because I don’t have a rejection letter to include. It’s for the third agent I submitted my science fiction manuscript to back in May. One agent has a policy of “no response after eight weeks is a polite no.” Well that eight-week timeline expired on 7/10/2026, so I’m including it…
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Rejection #13 – Response
I received this response on July 6, 2026. I knew from the start that it was a long shot that this particular magazine would accept it, but I can’t know without trying. So here we are. This magazine also responds super quickly, so it’s not like I lose much in trying. That’s the lesson I’m…
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Rejection #12 – Response
The response pictured, received 7/5/2026 was the second rejection for my science fiction manuscript sent out for agent representation. It’s a form rejection. Not much to go on honestly. It’s a whole lot information about about the general reasons why this agent (or any agent) might reject a submission. Likely, this means they didn’t get…