After my fifth attempt to publish with the fine journal The Missouri Review resulted in a handwritten to note to “try…again,” I immediately fired off another story. The result of which was:
Was I discouraged? Hell, no! This was a little bit of personal attention, a tiny bit of criticism for me. With an actual name attached to it! I felt that I had definitely moved along on the path to eventual publication, that my work — while not ready for publication — was being taken seriously and considered, not merely discarded. That’s a pretty big deal in this field, so if you’ve gotten this face with your work, do not despair! Keep plugging away!