…yet another rejection from The New York Times.
It's my dream to be published in "Modern Love."
Do you know it? It's a weekly New York Times column "about relationships, feelings, betrayals, and revelations." It's also a TV show, a podcast, and a book.
"Modern Love" stories are raw, honest, sometimes funny, oftentimes heartbreaking, but always, without fail, wonderfully written and edited. They're also extremely hard to get published. In fact, the odds of getting your submission selected are estimated to be between 0.5% and 1%.
And yet I keep trying—and failing.
Below is the response I received on my most recent submission.
Dear Corey,
Thank you for sending your writing to Modern Love. Although I don't find your essay right for our needs, I'm grateful to have had the opportunity to consider it. I regret that the volume of submissions we receive makes it impractical for me to offer editorial feedback.
Best wishes,
Daniel Jones, Modern Love editor
I've had four "Tiny Love Stories" published in The Times so far, about one a year since I started submitting, but I'm oh-for-two on The Big One. And it's not just "Modern Love"—I've struck out with a few other publications lately, too.
I'm not discouraged, exactly—mostly I'm just venting fresh frustration. I know I'll continue to write and submit my work, but man, rejection stings.
Writers of Bear Blog, please tell me...
Have you ever been published? If so, where? How?
If not, what's your dream publication?
If you've been rejected, how do you shake it off and keep going?
I am genuinely, deeply curious.
(Photo courtesy of HBO's Girls...IYKYK.)