Yesterday, I received a rejection letter in my email for the story "Helen Goes Shopping" that I submitted to Shimmer. Editor J.L. Radley sent me the nicest rejection I have gotten so far.
It's a weird feeling -- I'm quite happy with this rejection. Sure, I'm dying to get a story published, but you have to take everything in this business with a grain of salt. Just getting a personal response is a high point in an author's career. I'm sure my story could have easily been skimmed, and replied to with a "Sorry, but we're going to have to pass."
But it wasn't just skimmed. It was read.
I wonder if the big namers ever got this way in the beginning? I can hardly imagine Terry Brooks or R.A. Salvatore smiling gleefully as they read that their story was rejected. But for me, it's almost good enough that he said he liked my opening and took his time to thoroughly critique the story for me. He raised many red flags about what I had done wrong concerning P.O.V. and wished me good luck with it in the future.
I plan on editing "Helen Goes Shopping" a lot, but when it's finished again, I'm sending it right back out into the world.
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