Today was a day of the normal business that we all go about, getting kids off to school, taking care of sick me and daughter, and ultimately trying to keep myself from spending the day in bed all day. As dinner wrapped up and I settled into my evening routine, my email was sitting their waiting to be checked. Most of the time I don’t enjoy email. It involves a great deal of rejection notes from journals or publishers, bill reminders, appointment reminders, and we can’t forget the spam.
Tonight the email loaded on my screen, and I immediately honed in on the email response from Finishing Line Press. I had submitted my newest collection of poems to them as well as Greywolf Press and Counterpath Press over the last few months. I typically only send to one publisher at a time. When it comes to full length collections, perhaps that is not the most effective way, but there it is. This year was different.
As the year progresses I have struggled with changes in my life situation. Tonight that email was sitting there, taunting me. I felt sure that beyond what I saw on the preview it would say, “Thank you for your submission, but it doesn’t fit our needs at this time.” So, I opened it to finish off the day with another rejection. I was thrilled to read, “Thank you for sending us Moments of Clarity. …We would love to publish your poetry book in our 2017 editions.” I considered waiting to announce this, but decided that I wanted to share the happy news with all of you, now to wait for the contract and see if we are a good fit.