Acceptance

Over the past few months I've made a habit of collecting rejection letters for short stories. Some are the generic form rejections, the ones that make me understand how Miss Snark feels when she sees a new Harry Potter or Twilight rip-off. Most are pleasant little notes with a personal comment, but a rejection all the same. My favorites I may have framed some day, one said that the story sounded like a novel opening and I should pursue that idea with the story (which my fevered little brain interpreted as: "Go write a novel.") My other favorite said that the piece was well written... anything they said after that was lost in the glow of praise. Even the rejection.

Last night, compulsively checking my e-mail before midnight (I'm waiting for a friend to write), there was an e-mail from an ezine I'd submitted to earlier this month. I opened it intent on adding another rejection to my pile. Imagine my surprise when the opening line read:

If this story has not yet been contracted by another market, I would be happy to offer you publication of it...

I had to read the e-mail twice. And then I saved it and ran off to IM another friend and demand to know what to do. I'd been planning on collecting my rejection slips and shoving Seventy under the bed with all my other short stories while I focused on my WIP.

And now Seventy is going to be published in M-Brane #5 which should come out in June of this year if I understand the production schedule correctly.

So, there it is, my first short story published. I have a publishing credit!