In January, I started sending out essays to publications in hopes of getting them published. In early June, in my blog post Submitting My Essays – Keeping the Butterflies in Check, I wrote about the submission goal I set and how I submitted and submitted but still hadn’t had any acceptances. I was terribly discouraged about my writing at that point. There were moments when I felt like giving up and I questioned whether my writing was good enough to continue sending out. I got rejection after rejection. Many were the standard form letter type. But others were kind and encouraging – the “We love your essay but it isn’t quite right for our publication. Please do keep sending it out” sort of letter. That sort of rejection letter gave me hope and kept me going.

Finally, nearly 6 months after my first submission – I got my first YES!

My essay, ‘Unbothered Rest,’ a story about my pre-Covid era trip to a village in France, was published by Wanderlust Journal on August 3rd. The editors did such a lovely job with the story layout and included all of my pictures and I’m so pleased with how it turned out! Please do hop over to the Wanderlust Literary Travel Journal website and read the other travel essays there. The essays and photos focus on international travel – and offer a lovely escape, especially now when we aren’t really able to travel overseas.

To add to the my excitement, the day ‘Unbothered Rest’ was published, I got my second acceptance!

This essay, “Lies” was published by Feminine Collective where they publish work that fits their tagline – “Humanity: Raw & Unfiltered.” This essay is not at all like my restful travel story “Unbothered Rest.” It’s an essay about the beliefs I have held about myself, about my body, about my worth, over the years. It was terribly difficult to write and even more difficult to share with the wider world. But I’m proud of myself for writing it and I”m glad it’s out there.

I’m shooting for 50 submissions by the end of 2021.

I don’t have an acceptance goal, as that number is a matter of chance. But the more I write, the more I submit, the better my chances. I’m up to 37 submissions now and got another rejection in my in box last week for a total of 25. Moments later, I saw another email from a publication and I assumed it was another rejection – but it was actually another acceptance! So I’ll have another essay, one that I wrote several years ago, published soon. More on that when it gets out there. Life is busy right now, my Aunt recently passed away and I’m involved in settling her estate, but I’m doing my best to carve out some writing and editing time – and time to submit my essays, too!