P is for Publication!

Email just never feels real, but now that I’ve received letterhead I’m willing to post.

My first short story has been accepted for publication: “The Law of Meat” in The Gettysburg Review.

Yay! I’m not just a bad news bear. I had moments this winter, doubting this blog. I didn’t know what to write about. I doubted anyone really wanted to view my running tally of italicized versus nonitalicized rejection slips. I decided to skip my post about The Analysis of Rejection Fonts: What Says “No” The Best. Should editors keep it classic with TNR? Or step it up with Book Antigua? Maybe sanserif is best. No nonsense. Move on. And please, don’t cry.

I hate to be a phony who just pipes in with the successes. It’s like those MFA-thread Speakeasy people who lurk all season but once they get in Iowa post all about it. Still. You can’t just keep writing about rejection because it sounds whiny and depressing. This dilemma earned us a post back when we first started this blog in Media Bistro. Some said whiny. Others said honest. The difference is hard to say.

It is a relief to know that at least sometimes, there will be good news.

To keep it real here’s the rest of my mailbag: two PhD nonacceptances (UGA and Tennessee), Michigan Quarterly Review rejection, notarized letter concerning late taxes (10 years. Whoops!) from Durham County. My car tags have expired. The New Orleans Sewage and Water Board, State Farm and the Student Assistance Foundation are all inquiring as to my health.

I’ve shoved all that mess behind the only mail that matters. So when will my milestone become available? To quote my letterhead: “Sometime in the next year.”

In the meantime here’s some pubs out now by other Montana MFAers:

http://www.pw.org/content/interview_writer_robin_romm (Lauren Hamlin '09)

http://www.thehumanist.org/humanist/09_jan_feb/janfeb09.html (Pete Jones '07)