Rejections Aren't So Bad After All

I recently tried to get my first short story, Baby Muran, published.  That attempted failed and I completely dismissed it.  And other time, I think I would've been upset.  But I'm not.

I think the reasons for this are:

• I know it's a good story.  If magazine A doesn't want to publish it, that's their loss.  I'll go somewhere else.
• I am busy with other projects, most notably revising my novel.
• I am more interested in the fate of my fourth story, which I submitted to a different place at about the same time.

And as I write these things, I realize my attitude has changed.  Does that mean I've got a thick enough skin to be a writer?  I have no idea.  I'm pretty sure that since I know the story is good, a rejection from any one place is meaningless in terms of my ability to write.  It just means they can't use the story.

A pity.  But I'm moving on and focus on my other projects.  And perhaps that's the lesson here in handling rejection.  Have more than one thing going so you can focus on project B if project A doesn't work out.

I've not done that before.  I prefer to work on one thing as a time.  But I can't always do that.  Even now while my novel, Aure, the Topaz is being revised, the second novel, Vorn, the Onyx is waiting for another pass through it.

And as I said, I've got my fourth short story out there with the fifth one started but not completed.

Guess I grew up and became a writer after all.  Who knew?