Sunday - Work, Rejections, More Writing

 Busy at the restaurant, but I came home less tired than I did on Saturday. I spoke with K on the way to work. A wants no help from and K is set to back out of her involvement, and I am with her on this. A- may not be the woman I least want a relationship with, but she is in the top 5. My current opinion is that whatever problems are coming for her and her two youngest, she has abetted them, if not caused them.

After work, I showered and had dinner and called KH before setting down to finish off "Permanent Lay Off."

"Passerby" got rejected, again. Which is not a bad thing, since it has been accepted for publication. No, the problem is that I failed to find the submission to withdraw the story since it was being published.

Thank you again for trusting us with your work. However, we have decided this piece was not right for us at this time. I do hope it finds the right home!

Best,
Nicole


Nicole-Anne B. Keyton (they/she)
Fiction editor & assistant editor | Vagabond City Lit

 I may send them "Colonel Tom" which received another rejection:

Thank you for sending us "Colonel Tom." We appreciated the chance to read it. Unfortunately, we're going to pass on this one.

First off, you should not have any hesitation about submitting this piece to a magazine. It's is a powerful and very well-done story that I feel captures the emotions of the main character and situation. It's not easy to write a piece such as this because it generally calls upon the writer to dig deep to pull out such emotions in the characters.

For our magazine, I felt it was just a tad too much on the depressing side. It's not that we haven't published emotional pieces in the past dealing with death and guilt. For example, "My Brother the Pomegranate Tree" in our April 2022 issue spans a range of emotions and deals with the devastating death of a child. And that's just a recent example.

Your piece gave me a lot to think about. Out of curiosity, I did check out your writing blog. Your article on world building is spot-on superb advice. Of all the advice and the many articles I've read on world building, I've not seen any as well-done and succinct as yours that hit all the points so well. It's excellent advice, and it shows in this current submission.

I encourage you to submit to us again. There is clear talent and focus in your writing, and I'm glad to see you've come back to it. I really hope that a future piece of yours will find it's way into our magazine. In any case, all the best with your writing (and your life).

I sincerely hope this piece finds a home in a good magazine. I'm just sorry it wasn't right for us.

Thanks again for the excellent read.

Sincerely,

Rick Taubold

Fabula Argentea Magazine

Being too depressing has always been a worry for me. It is another of my grim Indiana stories; what Joel C called my Hoosier noir. However, that is the most gracious and kind of all my rejection letters.

I also called and left messages for T2. Today, she goes into surgery. Let us all hope and pray they get the cancer.

Today, I am working on the blog. That will be between going to Ball Memorial for another SSI exam this morning and another counseling session this afternoon.  I will do some running, too. After finishing the story last night, my eyes were just too tired for any more words.

I also installed a new keyboard and mouse. It is a little easier for me than the laptop keyboard.

May you have a productive day.