Several years ago, I stumbled across an article talking about why you should aim for 100 Rejections a Year, and it was something I really took to heart. I have yet to actually MAKE it to 100 Rejections in any given year, but the number is not really the most important part. The important part is the idea behind it, and the drive to constantly be putting your work out there. Because the idea is, if you’re striving for 100 Rejections, you’re bound to hit a few Acceptances along the way, as well.
Some years are better than others. This year was a little bit of a struggle in getting new material out into the rotation, which I feel accounts for the lack of Acceptances, but even with that in mind, as you can see in the picture above, for the year of 2022, I managed 38 Rejections and 3 Acceptances. Not a lot, but 3 is still better than none, and I’m really proud of those three acceptances, too: “Black Stones” in The Sirens Call, “The Scent of Summer” in The Schuylkill Valley Journal, and “The Mutineers of Starvation” appearing in a soon-to-be-released volume of Bards and Sages Quarterly.
Will 2023 bring more Rejections? And will that also mean a few more Acceptances, too? Only time will tell, but I’m definitely interested to find out. I want to at least beat 2022’s numbers, which shouldn’t be too hard. Who knows? Maybe I will one day reach that 100 Rejections mark, and what a day that would be, because that would mean I at least tried, 100 times, and that is at least something.
Although, of course, 100 Acceptances would be much better!
L.S. Engler 
I admire your tenacity, especially since I used to have a similar goal. That was quite a long time ago, however, and now I concentrate on self-publishing. My 18th novel came out last August. I find it a great deal less stressful this way. Nevertheless, I urge you to stick with every goal you set. You’ll hit ’em all eventually!
Thank you! I really hope I do (and that the number of accepted works matches it accordingly)!
I’ve been wanting to dip my toes back into self-publishing as well, but there has not been much time to dedicate to it with as much focus as I know something like that requires. I admire anyone who can pull that off, especially with 18 novels! That’s really impressive. But, hopefully, more self-published work is something I can carve out some time for in the new year as well.
Congrats on your acceptances. Focus on those, not the rejections. 🙂
I like to think that they’re closely tied together: without being willing to accept those rejections, I wouldn’t be giving myself the opportunity to get those acceptances!
But the acceptances definitely do feel MUCH better!
Congrats on those 3 acceptances!
Thanks, Fallon! Here’s to getting it to 4 this year! =D