Me rockin’ my new, pink Atlanta Braves hat that my dad gifted me for Christmas.

I miss my fuzzies so much.

I woke up this morning to my second rejection letter.  It wasn’t the way I wanted to start this beautiful Friday, but at least I won’t have to wonder what The Fiction Desk thought of “Jenny Kissed Me” anymore.  Their response was, as expected, a form, and this is how it went:

Rejection Letter #2 – The Fiction Desk

If you’d like to find out more about this kind of stories we publish, you can download free samples of our anthologies, containing complete stories, for your iPad, iPhone, or Kindle.

I looked up examples of rejection letters that other people have received, and it seems that just about everyone and their sister’s brother gets this one, so I wasn’t too surprised when I got it too.  However, I was surprised to find a typo.  Did you see it?  They put a “this” instead of a “the” when instructing me how to find out what kind of stories they publish.  I wonder if it is some sort of test, to see who is brave enough to let them know.  Well, it won’t be me.  I make mistakes all the bloody time.  I’ll be the last person to call out a literary magazine.  But if you want to inform them, be my guest.

I currently have 10 more possibilities for “Jenny Kissed Me”, at least in the paying market, and 1 in the non-paying market, but I won’t hear back from any of them any time soon.  The next one I will probably hear from is 42 Magazine, followed by The Lifted Brow.

Well, time to work on my novel, “Terminus”.

Today I got my first rejection letter for “Jenny Kissed Me”, a short story I wrote a billion years ago and just recently threw into the shark infested waters of the publishing world.  I completely expected to get a rejection letter, probably a dozen (or two hundred) before someone accepted her out of pity, but it still stung.  Not as much as the piping hot butternut squash that burned the top of my mouth earlier, but I’ll probably eat an extra large bowl of ice cream later to make myself feel better.

Who rejected me?  Echo Ink Review did, and this is what they had to say:

Rejection Letter #1 – Echo Ink Review

Dear Gabrielle Olexa,

Thank you for your interest in Echo Ink Review.

We cannot at this time use “Jenny Kissed Me,” but we appreciate the opportunity to read your work.

If you have additional, similarly toned work, please send it our way. Best of luck, and thank you again for your interest in Echo Ink Review.

Regards,

The Editors,
Echo Ink Review

I like that they 1) took the time to write out the name of my story and 2) that they included the bit about sending them similarly toned work.  At least they didn’t say, “You suck, get a life!”

Oh, well.  I was bound to get one eventually.  Here’s to hoping that one of the other 13 places I sent Jenny to will like her more.

I used to walk past this billboard when transferring to line 10 in Shanghai.  It always made me laugh.  I mean, look at it.  

No, this is not a stock photo.  This is Phil’s kidney stone that he recently passed.  Doesn’t it look awful?

I know that Yu Yuan Garden is a tourist shopping trap, but you’d think they’d be more careful about allowing businesses like Starbucks and Dairy Queen to open there.  To me, it takes away from the beauty of it all.  This of course did not stop me from getting a coffee, but I would have been perfectly okay with not being able to get one.

I wonder how hold this tree is.  I’m really glad it is in a protected area and that no one will cut it down.  Such a large tree is an unusual sight in Shanghai.

I stumbled upon this stage in Yu Yuan Garden, but while I was there, no one came out to play on any of the musical instruments.

I remember a time when Halloween was completely unknown to the Chinese.