Never say never....

Recently, I just published my very first piece of work, well at least a origional piece, which I wrote out of my own warped imagination and not as a staff writer.  Ironically it was a piece that I put aside about a year ago because I kept getting rejection after rejection, after rejection.  I can't tell you how frustrating it was to receive the status quo... Sorry but it's not for us.... or....this is a very competitive market and what doesn't work for one publisher may work for another, good luck getting your story published elsewhere...blah, blah, blah.. Yeah I've heard just about all of them.  Needless to say, I was very disheartened and came to the conclusion that I would never get the short, which at once-apon-a-time I was really proud of, published.

Then out of nowhere, and mainly because I was feeling antsy about not submitting in a long while, I decided to re-vamp My short story "Discovering Jasper" an erotic gay short.  I changed some adjectives, added a bit more dialogue here and there and decided that I would submit it to an online publication, just for the sake of getting something out there, if not for any other reason, but to feel like I was doing something proactive to further my writing career.  I found an online magazine, Every Night Erotica, listed in the 'Calls for submissions section' of Erotic Readers and Writers.com. (I highly recommend to anyone writing romance, they list all the major publishers and update requests for specific anthologies, novel and genre works every day.) Every Night Erotica caught my eye, I researched their site a bit and went onto there twitter board to see who was following the site.  To my surprise, I found many "already" established authors being published  through them.

Wow!  A bit intimidating.  But I decided to go for it. I was looking for this kind of promotional tool to get my work out into the public eye and my name noticed by potential publishers, as well as some credentialing points.  So with my head hung low, because I was sure it would wind up another rejection.  With a shaking finger I hit the enter button on my PC and sent them my Short for consideration. 

A day later I received a notice stating I should give them up to 60 days to review and respond to my submission.  Okay no problem, this is pretty much standard practice with most publishers. 

Not giving it a second thought, I shoved the submission way back into the little compartment of my mind where I store my pride, amongst other tortured emotions.  I thought nothing of it, In fact forgot about it.  Prepared my self for one more rejection. 

Two weeks later, I got an email from Every Night Erotica.  Oh great! Two weeks that's all it took for them to reject my short.  I didn't open it for two days, cuz I needed to do my pre-rejection ritual. After I finished the third bottle of wine and did my yoga routine, (designed to disperse the negativity) I was finally able to pull the email and open it.  and this is what I read:

Dear Emma Paul,

We are pleased to tell you that we have decided to publish your story "Discovering Jasper" in Every Night Erotica. We plan to publish your story on Friday, July 9th 2010.

As you know we publish a new sexy story each evening 365 days a year! To that end, we are looking for submissions from everyone - multiple times! Please pass the word along!

Congratulations and we look forward to seeing more of your work.

Sincerely,
All of us at Every Night Erotica

http://www.everynighterotica.com

?????...After reading it the 20th time, It finally sunk in and I freaked, in a good way this time.  So to all my fellow aspiring Authors out there, just because the first few dozen rejections sank your boat or burst your bubble, remember to always hang in there, cuz it is true what they say, If  it's not one person's or (30 people's) cup of tea, it's someone else's Mocha Latte. 

Never say never.

Emma