It was so cold yesterday that I didn’t go out to check the mail. That’s pretty remarkable for a writer who lives for the mail. I checked it this morning and found a rejection slip for a story I submitted about two months ago. It was a personal note, detailing why the editor didn’t take it and I found it to be very helpful. In fact, it was the kind of rejection note that every beginning wishes he or she would get from editors, but still a rejection. I seem to have at least reached the stage where rejections, when they come, are almost always personal and helpful. It was my second rejection of 2011.

I did make my first submission in 2011 today and I feel pretty good about that one.