For several years, I've written short fiction as a hobby. (I say hobby, because no matter how successful you are as a short story writer, there's just no chance of making a living at it!) Anyway, this post resonated with me. I'm part of an online writing group, and we try to celebrate and set annual goals around rejection -- because it's absolutely inevitable. As you said, the more you're rejected, the more you can use it as a badge of honor of putting yourself out there. I used to be devastated by rejection as a writer. Now, I'm targeting 100 rejections in my short fiction hobby this year.
I love that your group sets annual rejection goals! I'm setting mine sky high for 2026 and I'm pretty sure I'm gonna reach it as I'm starting to submit my novel in January. Yes, they say that short stories are a hard sell, yet I see debut short story collections out there all the time AND I personally know 2 writers who have published them. As for making a living...who knows, but it sounds like your hobby is more of a vocation as I'd define it - the work that is essential to you, practicalities be damned.
For several years, I've written short fiction as a hobby. (I say hobby, because no matter how successful you are as a short story writer, there's just no chance of making a living at it!) Anyway, this post resonated with me. I'm part of an online writing group, and we try to celebrate and set annual goals around rejection -- because it's absolutely inevitable. As you said, the more you're rejected, the more you can use it as a badge of honor of putting yourself out there. I used to be devastated by rejection as a writer. Now, I'm targeting 100 rejections in my short fiction hobby this year.
I love that your group sets annual rejection goals! I'm setting mine sky high for 2026 and I'm pretty sure I'm gonna reach it as I'm starting to submit my novel in January. Yes, they say that short stories are a hard sell, yet I see debut short story collections out there all the time AND I personally know 2 writers who have published them. As for making a living...who knows, but it sounds like your hobby is more of a vocation as I'd define it - the work that is essential to you, practicalities be damned.