It seems publishing things have kept up the momentum of 2020. Yes, there have been the expected rejections, but there was a long awaited publication. Also, new things are going on. New as in my first acceptance for 2021!

Voila, the 2021 stats:

• Acceptance: 1
• Rejections: 9
• Pending: 15

This new acceptance is a short story that should be coming out in February. I will keep you updated. Currently, my writing duties include composing a love letter to a Scottish cat (truly, and for what it’s worth, it’s for a social media thing), as well as editing short stories and following up the endless task of reading about potential publication opportunities.

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But I want to mention how this latest acceptance took place. I submitted a short story following a call out by Perhappened for their lovers themed issue. As it happened (ahem) my work wasn’t quite right tonally, but the lovely editors of Perhappened know their journals and listed several where they thought my story could fit. I had a look at each of the recommended publications, and chose one to submit to. A day later and my short story has found a home. This is why my message to writers is trust your journal editors, most especially when they reject your work. Journal editors know what they like and what they need; often, they know other journals, because they are passionate about writing, literature, editing, and reading. Now not all journals can offer what the editors of Perhappened do. I beg you not to demand recommendations of other journals from editors, nor send a torrent of stories to Perhappened on the off chance of exploiting their hard won expertise. But what you can do is learn from every rejection; and keep up good relations with kind hearted, overworked journal editors who do their work more out of love than money.

I get asked about journals sometimes, and I can’t offer much. There’s not time enough for me to read everything and then compare each to each. All I can do is try to read or learn enough to attempt to match my work to what journals publish and hope for the best. It’s often why I can’t help other writers: my writing isn’t yours. You can do what I do though, and ask advice when I discover people who know more than me (and there are an infinite number of people who know more than me, so I’m lucky in that regard).