Ah, thank the gods we are almost to the end of the Phase II (2008 ) short fiction rejections.  I’m ready to start with a clean slate!

So you know what this cartoon means – I got another rejection.  This one was unfortunate, because last time that I submitted to this highly competitive mag I actually got an encouraging handwritten note on the back of my form rejection.  Because of that note, I revised a piece I had been working on that seemed right for them and submitted it almost immediately following my rejection.  Alas, there is no hand written note of encouragement on this new rejection.  It’s good I’ve learned this lesson though, some of these magazines are out of my league right now.  I mean you don’t just go out and get the Olympic gold on your first try right?  You have to work your way up winning local, city, state, regional, etc., before you go for the gold, right? 

So I’m trying to be optimistic (see “glass half full cartoon“)…Phase III begins shortly as my new 2009 submissions get rounded up and I have at least a dozen pieces both old and new that I want to submit this year already, so wish me luck.

For those keeping score, here are the updated stats:

Updated Phase II Stats: 0 for 6 in Phase II (2008 ) and one piece still out there, trying its best.  I should know within the next month or so on that piece.

Updated Overall Stats:  1 for 13 overall since I started submitting in Phase I (2007) with one piece still out there fighting the good fight…