E.S. Raye

With two weeks left in the year, I have officially hit 90 rejections for short stories and manuscripts. Unfortunately, given recent events (especially adopting a new dog that has needed some extra care and attention to help him adapt to his new home) as well as the length of time it often takes for a story to be rejected or accepted, it doesn’t look like I’m quite going to hit the 100 rejections goal I was aiming for.

I do currently have 8 stories pending with several magazines and websites, and I hope to get a couple of stories submitted to a few more, but I have little expectations I will hear about all of them before December 31st.

But that’s okay. I will have submitted more than 100 times by the end of the year, and I will take that consolation prize.

The fact is, I decided to reach for 100 rejections at some point in 2024, when I already had at least a few rejections from 2023. This was an idea that just occurred to me at random several months into the year–I don’t even remember when–and I did my best to run with it. And I’m happy with what I have accomplished.

I had one short story published in February, and another accepted to an anthology that will be released in early 2025, I did fairly well in a number of short story writing contests, and most importantly, I signed a deal for my novel to be published! All in all, while I would have loved to get a few more stories accepted, I can’t complain about what I have done.

So, now, for 2025, I’m setting a new goal:

100 rejections within the year, and hopefully a few more acceptances along the way. I’d love to get more than the 3 I earned this year.

I’m excited about the coming year, and I have several projects that will be coming to fruition throughout 2025. But none of those are related to short stories (Gas Giant Gambit is scheduled for publishing in September, the web series will also be shot in September, and the horror feature film will be shot sometime over the spring/summer [hopefully, I haven’t actually heard from my producer/director in a while…]), so in that way, this goal stands alone.

I have a number of stories that have been sitting, waiting desperately for edits, another few that could use another round of edits, and even a few new ideas that haven’t been written yet. And that’s not even mentioning the contests I plan on joining that will yield fresh stories no matter where I place.

It’s easy to look back at 100 rejections as a failure. And there are times I am tempted to do so. But, instead, I try to keep in mind that every story written is a step towards being a better writer, and everywhere I submit to must make difficult choices on what they publish given their limited space. Running Perseid Prophecies all by myself has taught me that lesson well.

So, here’s to a new year of storytelling, more rejections to paper my walls with, and successes yet to come.

Good luck to you in your goals for the coming year, and I hope you’ll wish the same for me!