This week I got a rejection for a short story that reminded me there’s still time to try again, if I happen to have another story that fits their anthology in the next two weeks. (The anthology is closing on March 31.)

You really shouldn’t spend too much time thinking about rejection letters. Most of the time, they don’t mean much.

So, two weeks, huh?

Is that the kind of thing they send out to everybody? Still time to get a story in, if you hurry up and write one. Two weeks. Chop chop!

It’s not all that uncommon for a rejection letter to tell you to try again. It’s adding the deadline that makes it a little weird. Most of the time, the magazine or market will continue indefinitely. You can try again on your own schedule.

Are they that desperate for stories, or is it actually a vote of confidence for me, personally? Is this a form letter? Higher tier form, maybe? What does it MEAN?

Is everybody but me writing excellent Monster stories in two weeks flat? Oh, yes. Of course, they are. Everybody’s Mary Shelley except for me.

Do I even have another monster story in me? I don’t usually write about lurking creatures in the night, so I don’t have a lot of them lying around just waiting to be sent in.

Well, we’ll see.