The impossible has happened. I got burned again.
My third attempt to submit a short story was met with a long, dead silence. Curious, I checked out Dark Valentine‘s website again, only to find out that they shut down their ‘zine indefinitely. Now their website is a graveyard-like archive of downloadable back issues, ending with their summer issue.

“All good things must come to an end, and with this, the anniversary issue, we are ending Dark Valentine magazine. The decision to cease publication was not an easy one…”

Why do announcements like this seem like an industry standard these days? Are we not clicking the ‘donate’ button enough or what?

Anyway, guess they figured we’d eventually do our homework and find out the hard way, but a simple Email would’ve meant the world to me … maybe even a nice form letter saying it’s okay to start submitting elsewhere. Because the problem with this is I don’t know if anyone in the industry has bothered to read my stuff or if they’re just throwing it in the trash bin.

This is disheartening, to say the least. Am I the unluckiest writer in the world? There’s a void in my heart that only an acception letter a rejection letter a-response-letter-of-any-kind can fill. I just need to gather the motivation to do it again. But it’s not looking good, since my net gain is zero for the amount of effort I’ve put into it.

1. I still haven’t gotten a rejection letter for my short story submittal.
2. Brian’s starting to show some interest in having writing sessions with me again.
3. Merrilee’s decided she’s writing 100 words for 100 days, with an open invite for all who’d like to give it a try.
I found Merrilee’s challenge inspiring and decided to join in. Currently, we’re on day 16. I’ve missed a few days, but I’ve definitely been showing a healthy interest in writing again–Don’t wanna jinx it, though.