The Upside of Publishing

I was forcibly reminded today that trying to get published is not just about rejections and faceless editors booting your stuff into their outboxes. Yesterday I got a "Wow. This is a GREAT story" from an editor willing to take reprint rights on my story if I wanted to sell it to a bigger market first. Today I got an editor who has been patiently trying to contact me for 3 weeks through an accumulation of email bounces to buy a different story. I have to appreciate such people, who not only think my work is grand, but are willing to go an extra mile to get their hands on it. I appreciate all the editors who launch magazines in hope, struggling against the beat-down of a fiercely competitive marketplace and increasing numbers of people who think 140 characters of Twitter is adequate communication, and the discouraging realities of trying to build a brand and a loyal readership. I salute the dreamers and the pragmatists and the people I will never meet who provide markets for my writing and encourage me to keep at it even while gently turning a particular story away. I appreciate all the personal comments, the "might be better if you do this" suggestions, the "let's see a rewrite" requests.

So let's hear it for editors, and the acceptances that ease the pain of the rejections and give us hope enough to keep on.