Another Literary Stumble

My story "Mahalia" has once again been declined for publication, this time by Other Voices. However, I was quite pleased to read the very kind words of contributing editor Stacy Bierlein, who clearly enjoyed the story and strongly encouraged me to submit more stories to them in the future. It's nice getting that kind of personal feedback, which gives me reassurance that I'm at least a decent writer who's capable of creating works of actual merit.

Onward and upward. Today I submitted "Mahalia" to three more literary journals, once again going the simulataneous submission route. Since I will now be doing simulataneous subs as standard practice, from now on I'm going to refrain from identifying specific journals until I get a response from them. The three publications I submitted the story to today consisted of two smaller but fairly well-regarded university-affiliated journals--one on each coast--as well as one of the more prominent Chicago-area journals. ("Prominent" only in the lit journal sphere, of course, and completely unknown to at least 99% of the popluation.)

Yes, it's a limited audience I'm seeking--people who truly enjoy short stories. I'm not planning on ever getting rich off of my writing, which is fine with me. The intrinsic rewards will be enough.