The Rising Tide

The tide is rising for me, apparently; I had thought July and August would be slow months, with folks who can afford to take vacations out of town, and that few acceptances would be forthcoming…or even rejections. But I have had a good number of each, with seven stories accepted since July 1st, and August not done yet.

Though I would love to credit this entirely to literary brilliance, I think an important factor is that I keep sending stories out till someone buys them. And while I do give up on a story now and then, I don’t hurry myself into the decision: I have sold stories that had been rejected nine times, and I have a couple out there that have suffered an embarrassing number of rejections, but which I nevertheless believe have merit. Many authors now well-known and even part of the standard canon logged far more rejections than I have so far. (Jack London, for example.) I’m not complaining.

Of course, lead times are long for most journals, with stories sometimes appearing months after the happy news hits the inbox. But I have a couple due to appear this month, so watch the blog for announcements:

• “The Tinker,” to feature in the long-delayed winter edition of Edify Fiction
• “The River,” in the issue of the Maple Tree Literary Supplement scheduled to be released very soon
• “Off the Deep End,” in The Metaworker

And with luck there will be more.

Yes, and the tide will turn, the nourishing sea recede. But it will always rise again. I know that now.

Rick Risemberg