Yesterday I had my second story of the week rejected. While the first one made me shrug, the second one occurred when I was feeling a little less than and for several moments, I thought “ouch.” Okay, maybe a little more than ouch. I felt doubt. Wondered, why am I doing this?

Ten minutes later my rational side kicked in. It said, “You know, that story is only half told. It needs about another two to three thousand words to be well told despite that really f’ing fantastic paragraph near the end.”

So why would I ever send out a story that I already knew wasn’t quite done? I have a history of doing this. Laziness? Ego?

Advice: don’t do what I do. Cross all the t’s, dot the i’s. Make sure your story is the best it can be. If there are gaps, fill them in regardless of how many words it takes. I believe if we are self-aware writers, we know when something is only half-written. And, I do, yet send it out anyway. I must be masochistic. Or something.

For few minutes, I thought, well, this never happens to people who self-publish. Ah, but it does. Just in another way. Rejection comes in no one buying their story/book.

Onwards, writers!