When rejection isn’t such a bad thing after all.

After losing my voice a couple of weeks ago, I’ve been bedridden this week with labyrinthitis. I know, sounds like something fun but makes you dizzy and nauseous.  Imagine all the horrors of being drunk without any of the party.

Anyway, one of the great things that happened, despite feeling rough, is that I got a rejection for one of my short stories from The Masters Review.

Yeah, you read that right: ‘rejection.’

So why am I pleased?

Well, I have this short story and I’ve sent it off to a handful of places now.  I must admit I’ve aimed high, but it has now been rejected from The New Yorker, Granta, The Manchester Review, One Story and The London Short Story Competition.

Every time you’re rejected you’re sent some standard reply that goes something along the lines of…thank you for your submission, we had lots of entries, yours didn’t make the cut, try again some other time.

So what made this one different?

This time it was personal.

It stated the title of my story for starters.  And it had the following phrase: our editors enjoyed reading your manuscript, and it stood out among the group as one of the stronger submissions…

This means that whilst, yes, I have been rejected at least I know for sure the story is good. Sometimes even a rejection can still motivate you to keep on trying.