Monday, July 11, 2011

Short Story News

ACCEPTANCE!

After a total of 8 rejections and 396 total days in slush piles across the nation, my short story "The Machine" will appear in the September 16 edition of The Absent Willow Review--a market, by the way, which once rejected a story of mine in one day. Yes, that's right: One day.

I can't even begin to describe how thrilled I am by this. My only other full-length short story to be published suffered no rejections before its acceptance at Midwest Literary Magazine, so this is the first time I've had one of my stories get kicked around until it finally found a home. I've always been proud of the story, and it is immensely gratifying to know it has finally found a home. In a way, I'm sad in a way, because this is the end of the line for a story that I really loved, and often tweaked and tinkered with until I felt it was right. Well, the time for that is done, and it's bittersweet. It's really awesome, of course, but in its own way, it's kinda sad!

But I have to admit, I needed this. I haven't posted here lately because I really haven't been finishing stories. I'm still writing, but the W1S1 challenge really hasn't been my focus. Just feeling generally gloomy lately, I guess. But this is just the tonic I needed!

Now back to work with me!

9 comments:

  1. Way to go! AWR is an awesome semi pro market! Keep up the subbing!

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  2. Congratulations. Nice market. Yep, an acceptance'll get you all fired up. And it's not the end for that sotry, there's always the reprint market. You could keep on selling it for years.

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  3. Thanks, guys. And yes, Deb, I had never thought of that! I could kiss you right now!

    Too forward? Sorry, sorry!

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  4. Yahoo! Well done, sir. Relish this one.

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  5. Thanks, Milo!! And I am, I assure you. I can't get rid of this smile.

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  6. Fantastic news, Joe! Really pleased for you. AWR are a great market.

    Oh, and it's a tiny thing in comparison I know, but I've got a mention of you coming up on a blog post of mine next week ...

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  7. Congratulations! That's great!

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  8. Thanks, peeps! And Simon, I'm stunned and thrilled by the mention!

    Well, so long as it isn't "Did you see this jackass Joe Romel's blog?"

    ...it isn't that, is it?

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  9. Oh, no, it's not that at all. Nothing so polite. Just kidding!

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