After about eight rejections, I finally got my essay, "Nothing There," published. As of now, Adelaide Literary Magazine owns it, and I couldn't be happier.
Another essay, "Unicorns & Fairy Dust," will be published with The Mark Literary Review, a new start-up lit mag. That will happen in August. It details the difficult choice the narrator has to make to have an abortion...and also, the inner conflict that pushes her and her partner of the time to this decision. As soon as it's officially published, I will upload a link to that essay, as well.
Writing, and other works of art/creativity, is such a process that one has to stick to in order to finally make it work for them. When I got my first rejection a year ago, I was crushed, but not totally surprised, as I was warned throughout my Creative Writing program that that would happen. So after the fifth rejection, I was like, "Okay...whatever. Let's take another look at it, revise if necessary, and continue submitting."
But it's not just about the quality of your work; it's also about the best fit. You can't please all of the people all of the time, and most essays will not fit every single literary magazine. So you've gotta read the magazine before submitting and decide if it'll be the best "home" for your writing.
So I've gotten two essays published this year, and I have two more out there waiting the "big decision." After that, I'm done submitting to lit mags until I finish my memoir that all of these essays will ultimately belong to. I temporarily stepped down from that process in order to finish my Master's, but hopefully I can pick it back up by the end of this month.
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