Shoes were made for walkin'

I got a rejection letter for one of my stories. “Of Worms and Epitaphs”. A lot of people have read it, and it is a good story. (Yes, I am still working on polishing “Stella”. It’s just too damn long!)

You would think that losing my job and having a publisher say no to my stuff would make for a bad week. Actually it doesn’t.

The job? The one were I was crying in the parking lot every morning before walking in? Yea, I miss that, not. I am working again so oh well. I am sorry that I missed “Show Larry Your Boobs Day” last week. There is always next year.

The rejection letter? This is good. The letter that was sent back was a “Not for us” letter. They did not see a place for my story in their publication. They also did not say “This is crap” or “Quit” or “If you send anything else to us, we will call the police”. This means send to someone else.

Recently a very good man passed away. I learned a lot from him and he helped my writing more then he knew. He let me know what a rejection letter meant. In fact I hear he had boxes of them, and was proud of every single one.

Simply, a rejection letter says you had the guts to submit your work in the first place. A rejection letter says you took a chance. You opened yourself to criticism; you gave a total stranger the chance to judge you.

And were else can you find someone to judge you?

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Since I am not where I can hear “Half Heard quotes” I am asking for donations! I will leave you with an office story, though!


In the office break room, Central Perk, (that was original) there are three microwaves. Two newer ones and one older, probably about 10 years old. As sometimes happens, the older microwave takes a little longer to heat up food. I walked in to warm up my lunch and there was a line. Not unusual. Then I noticed the older microwave was empty. Not wanting to bump anyone in line I pointed this out before I put my food in.

“No, go ahead, that oven is too slow.” From one of the people waiting.

This struck me as odd. Both of the newer microwaves were being used. Then there were four people waiting in line.

I tend to look at things too logically.

So instead of using the older microwave, which because it takes longer, they decide to wait for the newer ones.

Let’s say the new ovens heat your lunch at 4:00 minutes.
The older one takes 5:00 minutes.

So instead of heating your meal in 5 minutes, you are going to wait for the faster microwaves. You are the 3rd person in line, you are going to wait 12 minutes before you have your lunch.

Yea that makes a lot of since!

Anyway, I got my lunch heated and was gone long before the others in the room. In fact, they may still be waiting.