I submitted a short story to the Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction because I’m crazy and of course I didn’t expect to get in, but I wanted to see what they said upon my submitting one of my stories. Apparently I had “some good writing,” but it “didn’t quit win [the editor] over.”

Hmm. I’m still a growing writer. I don’t think writers ever stop growing, in one direction or the other, and I hope I’m heading in the “good” direction. This particular short story has gone over an insane transformation over the course of nearly six years now. It’s been something that’s always held an interest to me, but quite honestly I don’t think I’ve completely figured it out yet.

And what’s good for one magazine isn’t necessarily what another looks for, I’ve discovered as I’ve been venturing into the world of literary journals and magazines these past few years. I think people sometimes think they need to write a certain way to get published, and while that may be the case for becoming a famous writer I believe that you undoubtedly have an audience for your writings that appreciate what you do and resonate with what you’ve written. And maybe that’s not true, but I like to be positive.

Writing is so beautiful. I don’t want to be famous for it necessarily: I want to be known, even if just to one person, who understands my writing and gets something from it, even if it’s not what I intended. And so I will keep writing. Before I even go back to tackle either of the novels waiting for me to revise and edit them, I think I’m going to focus on the craft of short stories and short plays and see what I can gain from there.