So, that was April. It was successful, wildly more successful than I expected, writing wise. I should probably adjust my expectations, but what would the surprise be then?

Anywho, here’s the stats.

One short story, one flash fiction, and four poems were published. Two of the poems were new, submitted once and then accepted, one acceptance took three months, and the other was publication as acceptance after 10 days. The third poem had been reworked a few times after being composed some 15+ years ago and the acceptance was three days post submission, while the fourth poem was new this year and had been rejected a couple of times and the acceptance took 13 days. The flash fiction came from a writing exercise via Tim Clare’s Couch to 80k boot camp a couple of years ago, and it polished up nicely to fit a specific call out and was accepted two months after submission. The short story was written more than 15 years ago and has been edited, dissected and submitted occasionally over the years – the response time from submission to acceptance was seven days.

There is no pattern to this data. I see a call out, or a publication, and either write something for it, or match what I already have, it’s as simple and as difficult as that. Even now, I miss more chances than I take, because I can’t do everything. Regarding response times from publications, the longer the wait, the more inclined I am to believe it will be a rejection, sometimes I’m proved wrong.

In May, I have a short story coming out as well as a couple of poems, and maybe more.

If there are lessons to be learned they could include: don’t give up on a work; rejections provide space to improve pieces; rejections provide time for literary tastes to change so stories out of fashion now may find their place in the future; keep everything, even multiple drafts. And, finally, keep going.

• Commentaries of Xanthippe – Issue 3: Absurd April 24 – Provenance Journal
• Berg Again – John Paul Caponigro Writing Challenge – April 22 – The Ekphrastic Review
• Three Halves of a Dream – April/May 2022 Edition – Eclectica Magazine
• Rumbled – Thunder issue April 7 – Flash Frontier
• Thick Cut – April 1 Spring 2022 Edition – Gyroscope Review
• The air is green – April 1 – the Hyacinth Review

Steady as she goes – the 2022 writing update

Rejections: 114
Pending: 64
Acceptances by publisher: 20
Acceptances by work: 24
Published: 20