Success and Good Attempts

It’s been a fun journey towards publication. Today I discovered that a third short story I have written has been accepted for publication.

A few months ago I found out that the first short story I wrote, “The Crossing,” was a Derringer awards finalist for Best Short Story. The anthology it was in just won Best Anthology for the San Diego Book Awards. The anthology my second short story is in, the 2020 Bouchercon anthology, is up for an Anthony for Best Anthology (we’ll see how it does in August).

All of this has been exciting. I have two other short stories out for consideration. It is hard to know how long it will take for me to hear back.

I had one rejection recently, but it was a kind one with the editor stating that she liked my premise and main character but the story wasn’t right for them (although she looked forward to my next submission). It’s hard to feel too bad about hearing that from one of the premier magazines in my field.

I was struggling a bit with my writing recently. Despite the successes listed above, I felt like it wasn’t doing that well. This latest anthology acceptance is a good reminder that I just have to keep writing and things will get better. I will get published again. My novels may finally seem strong enough for me to send out (I’m a bit of a perfectionist and it’s been hard to get it right).

So between now and October, when my next publication will be released, I’ll try to get going again. I can’t have a success if I don’t keep making some good attempts.