A Writer's Notebook, Day Nine-Hundred-And-Twenty-Nine

 I received a rejection that stung a bit more than most.  It is always, of course, disappointing, and I am often frustrated when I receive a rejection, though it is more to do with the overall trend at the moment than any specific example.  I do not believe that every editor, or even any particular editor, is obliged to want my work, and don't feel hurt in that way, most of the time.  Of course, their are always a few special submissions to places I have a particular feeling about, and those rejections can sting in their own way.  In this case, it was partly because the specific entry had been sent based on a suggestion from a mentor, and I felt that might be meaningful under the circumstances.  It was not that I felt they were going to influence anything, to be clear, more a sense that they might have been suggesting it because of a sense about my work lining up with the editor's wants.  I think another, and possibly more significant aspect is the fact that this was the last of the first round of submissions I made with my most recent chapbook manuscript.  I do feel very strongly about that work, and it is rough receiving a form rejection with that in specific.  It is really that I felt, perhaps, the chapbook would be different than the other work I have sent out.  I am fairly certain that I was in consideration for at least one publisher, from the note I received, and I think that helped to make me more hopeful about things.  I wish I believed that this was just a bit of bad luck that was going to change one day soon, but after a point that ceases to be believable.