Hitting 100 rejections on my writing submissions finally made me feel like a real writer

I submitted short stories to literary magazines for about 18 months and kept a spreadsheet of every single rejection. When I hit number 100 last week, I actually felt proud instead of defeated. Each rejection came with a timestamp, the magazine name, and sometimes a personal note like 'close but not quite.' That number mattered because it proved I was actually doing the work and not just talking about writing. Most people quit after 10 or 20 rejections, but 100 showed I had real grit for this stupid hobby. It also helped me spot patterns in what editors were actually looking for versus what I thought they wanted. Has anyone else tracked a specific milestone that flipped how you saw your progress?

3 comments

3 Comments

tyler_wilson2mo ago

Yeah @rowan_roberts49 that King story always gets brought up but 100 rejections is its own kind of badge of honor. Keep that spreadsheet going and start tracking what actually gets more specific feedback - thats been way more useful for me than the raw number.

rowan_roberts492mo ago

Heard Stephen King got 30 rejections for Carrie alone.

the_james29d ago

Man, 30 rejections and that book almost didn't see the light of day. But here's what gets me - did those early rejections actually give him anything useful to work with, or was it just "not for us" over and over? Cause I've heard some writers say the real gold is in the feedback that tells you what's broken. Tyler's right about tracking specifics, but I wonder how many of those 30 came back with actual advice versus a form letter.