Although teaching is ridiculously time-consuming, I still try to write on the side. Here are the rejection letters I received over the course of 2019. Some of these works ended up being published later. Others were blogged or tossed into some backwater folder, never to be unearthed again.
Also, let me be clear. I do not harbor any of these magazines any ill will. Rejection is a constant in any writer’s attempts at a literary career. There’s breathing, there’s eating, and there’s a monthly rejection letter in the inbox.
12/5/2019
Thank you for sending us [Omitted]. We appreciate the chance to read your work. Unfortunately, the piece does not fit our literary journal, but we strongly encourage you to keep writing. Thanks again. Best of luck with your endeavors.
9/24/2019
Thanks for giving us the chance to read [Omitted]. After careful consideration, we are unfortunately going to pass at this time. If you have other works that you think might be a good fit for The Arcanist, we encourage you to submit them. We look forward to reading more of your work in the future and hope that this piece finds a home as well.
9/23/2019
Unfortunately we will be unable to use [Omitted] in the upcoming issue of Thema, The Clumsy Gardener. Thank you for giving us an opportunity to read your work. Best wishes on future submissions.
9/21/2019
Thank you for submitting your story [Omitted] to Mystery Weekly Magazine. I enjoyed reading your story. Very well set up and great voice, but unfortunately I will not be accepting it. I wish you the best of luck in finding a home for it. I would be happy to read more of your work and sincerely hope that you will continue to send your mysteries our way.
8/11/2019
Thank you for giving me a chance to read [Omitted]. I thought the premise was interesting, but overall the story didn’t quite grab me and I’m going to pass on it for Fantasy & Science Fiction. But I wish you best of luck finding the right market for it and hope that you’ll keep us in mind in the future.
6/9/2019
Thank you so much for submitting [Omitted] to Claw & Blossom. Although this was not quite a match for us at this time, we appreciate the strong voice and vision here, and hope you’ll consider us for future submissions. Warmest wishes.
6/2/2019
Thank you for sharing [Omitted] with us. We appreciate having had the chance to read your work, and we’re sorry to write with disappointing news—we’ve decided that the piece is not quite the right fit for the anthology. We wish you the best of luck finding a home for the story.
5/6/2019
Many apologies for the delay in our response and thank you for the chance to read [Omitted]. Unfortunately, this isn’t what we’re looking for right now. We wish you luck placing it elsewhere and hope that you’ll keep us in mind.
4/20/2019
Thank you for sending us [Omitted]. We appreciate the chance to read it. Unfortunately, the piece is not for Barzakh Magazine. Thanks again. Best of luck placing this elsewhere.
4/12/2019
Thank you for sending your work to Parentheses Journal. While we have decided not to go ahead with your work this time, we encourage you to submit for Issue Seven. You can find the submission periods of our issue cycles on our submission page. Please do not feel disheartened as we know the love and dedication that goes into making art. We hope your work finds a suitable home and that you consider submitting new work to us in the future. As a side note, your work [Omitted] made it through several shortlists, but we had to make some difficult decisions for this issue. You certainly have a unique perspective and I liked the short weird narrative. We would love for you to submit again.
3/9/2019
Thank you for sending us [Omitted]. We appreciate the chance to read it. Unfortunately, the piece is not for us. We read submissions carefully and we know the trust you place in us with your work. Thank you for reading and submitting to Sundog Lit, and we wish you the best of luck placing this piece elsewhere.
2/14/2019
Thank you for submitting to Augur Magazine. Every submission we receive is important to us, and we’re honoured that you trusted us with your work. However, as we’re often only able to publish 1-2% of those submissions, we have to make some hard choices. Unfortunately, we will not be purchasing [Omitted] for our upcoming issue.
2/14/2019
Thank you for sending your submission. Unfortunately we were unable to include your contribution. The Firewords team really enjoyed reading your submission and it was of a good writing standard. However, we did not feel that it sat closely enough with the prompt to be considered. We appreciate your interest in our publication and the time you took to submit.
2/14/2019
Thank you for sending a submission for the upcoming issue of the Smoky Blue Literary and Arts Magazine. Although we feel your work has many positives, after much deliberation, we decided it was not a good fit for us at this time. We received many incredible stories, poems, non-fiction, and images, and we are forced to select only a handful of pieces. Know that though your work will not be in this next issue, our staff welcomes your submissions and truly hopes to continue receiving material from you.
1/21/2019
Thank you for sharing your work with us. We have decided not to publish this particular Fiction submission. Unfortunately, we receive many fine works that are not quite right for this magazine. We appreciate your interest in Storm Cellar.
1/14/2019
Thank you for taking an interest in Red Sun Magazine. We appreciate the opportunity to read your submission. Unfortunately, it wasn’t the right fit for us.
Although we receive too many submissions to respond to each author on an individual basis, we recognize all the hard work and imagination that you put into your creation. We wish you the best of luck in finding a market for it and encourage you to try submitting a different creation.
1/11/2019
Thank you for submitting to freeze frame fiction. We have decided not to publish your piece, [Omitted], on this occasion.
1/9/2019
Thank you for submitting [Omitted] to Windscape Publishing. Although we must decline your submission this time around, we wish you the best placing it elsewhere.
See Also
Desmond, Write 