Until I figure out how to make a “Blog” page, separate from the Front page, this will have to do. I am not going to jump in to revising the site until I decide what I want. But I have something important to share with you today.

I have been regaling the readers over at Here’s The Clean with my writing exploits all year, but I decided, if I am going to try and make my “main” website a more viable face for my writing, I need to do the talking about writing over here. So, I am taking all that away from them (though hopefully, they will follow it to this site) and giving it to you!

I should recap a little. My New Year’s Resolution this year — one of them, at least — is to try and write at least SOMETHING every single day. (No, blog posts are not supposed to count, though they sometimes are all I get done.) I started out with that goal in mind, and began submitting more than I have in years.

Well, about a month ago, my husband ratcheted things up a notch by challenging me to get 300 rejections this year. Now, this is not to say that I am sending out dreck that I know will be rejected because I didn’t follow the guidelines, or just threw stuff together to make my numbers. I am obviously HOPING for acceptances every time I send something out. But his permission to fail has been most invigorating.

Let’s look at the pros:

• I have sent pieces to markets I never would have dreamed of approaching, like The New Yorker and Asimov’s, because if I don’t get accepted, hey — that’s another notch on my tally.
• At the peak of my productivity, I was sending out 3 submissions a day (a convention, and then two weeks of illness have slowed that down a bit, but I am starting to work back up to it.) This has given me over 50 submissions out so far this year. And it is the 1st of March. Most years, I am lucky to get 30 all year.
• If I get 30 rejections in a single month, my vegetarian husband is taking me out for a steak dinner. (I only had 10 for February, but I still got fajitas because I got a late start in a short month.)
• Sending out a lot of material means that the likelihood of ACCEPTANCE goes up as well. I think my current numbers are 11 rejections/4 acceptances/1 moved on to second round of readings — that’s NOT a bad ratio of good to bad. And I am building up a body of work to send out again if it is rejected.
• I have been writing more than ever. I have started at least three completely new short stories, finished three that I had started but never completed, and revised at least three more. And that isn’t counting the poetry, which is my main form of submission.

What are the cons?

• I’m not getting as much housework done this year…
• I haven’t wasted as much time on Facebook games…oh, wait…is that really a con?

I admit, there are probably balance issues I have still to work out, but simply having the FREEDOM to be rejected has empowered me in so many ways.

Of course, an editor pointed out to me that I would have to average about 6 rejections a week to hit 300 for the year, and I didn’t start until February, so it is a long shot at best.

But the editor who told me that…? She accepted a story from me.

Keep writing!