I’ve had one story out there for a long time.  So long, in fact, that I’ve decided that it’s terrible and needs to be shelved as soon as it comes back from the market it’s currently at.  I decided this about three months ago, but this market is taking forever and I figured why not leave it there, just, you know, because.

I fully expect a rejection on this story.  Except…they haven’t rejected it yet and they’re starting to reject submissions made earlier than mine.

Which leads me to the question, “They’re not really thinking of publishing it, are they?”

No.

No, they can’t be.

No…

See, this is what happens when you keep writing and keep growing as a writer.  You look back on your earlier efforts that you thought were pure brilliance (ok, to be fair, I never thought it was pure brilliance.  I did think it was funny in a twisted sort of way) and you realize that they were just meh.

Not bad.  Not good.  But certainly not up to publication in a magazine that would pay for it.

That doesn’t always happen.  I once found an e-mail I’d written two years before (this is when I was in college) and I marveled at the intelligence of the person who had written that e-mail.  Because I was certainly not capable of writing anything like that e-mail ever again.  (Seems I’d killed a few brain cells in the interim.)

So, sometimes you’re just in that zone and what you write really is amazing.  But usually, at least for me, six months, a year later, I see just how ridiculous what I wrote was.

But that’s why it’s best to keep writing and keep creating new stories.  So you can move forward and can see the difference from what you wrote before.

Better than sitting around polishing a turd.  Because at the end of the day it’s still going to be a turd.  (Pretty sure some variation of that came from my great-grandma…that woman had some crazy wisdom.  And I mean crazy as in a little left of center, not as in “awesome/cool.”)

Well, I’m off to keep writing.  Actually, I’m off to sub that story that everyone seemed to love that no one wants to buy.  It finally got a form rejection, so I guess I should be careful what I complain about…haha.