100 Rejections
Karen Kao’s column this month spoke to me and made me think that somehow we’d made a secret pact at the beginning of this year. You see, I vowed New Year’s Day 2019 to achieve a goal of 100 rejections. To date I have received 12 rejections. Like Karen, I’ve also taken a scattershot approach, submitting entries based on what publications wanted. Thousands of publications exist. They all need content. Without a direction for myself, they became my writing compass. That seemed the easiest thing to do. I had no idea what I was doing, had no map marking a destination, nor plans as to what sort of career goals I had as a writer. Being 54 also heightens the lack of direction I feel as I probably less time ahead of me than behind me. But writing so much these last three months has clarified a lot for me. I now know both the direction and the destinations for my writing. I want to publish a work of nonfiction (I’m calling it a creative memoir) with a small, well-regarded publishin...