This morning, I drove Heron to work, and on my way home, I heard John Lennon’s version of “Stand By Me.”  I knew it was going to be a good day, but I didn’t know how good.

When I got home, I walked Hendrix before I started working.  And on the walk, I received an email.  That email was informing me that my story, “A Crash in Boston,” was selected for publication in Literary Orphans.  Well, I was excited.  It comes out at the end of September, and they have published great writers like Tom Pitts and Joe Clifford.

Let me provide you with a little bit of back story.  In 2010, I won the fiction prize for graduate students at Florida International University.  The winning story was “A Crash in Boston.”  Well, I thought I was some hot shit.  I was just 24 years old, winning a graduate competition in a MFA program.

So I started sending the story out to literary magazines.  Not just any magazines — the top, la creme de la creme.   And do you know what I found: yeah, that’s right, rejection.  Boy I received so many rejections I stopped counting.  But if I had to guess, then I would say about 50.  My story received, at least, 50 rejections.  I revised, and I continued to believe. 

Now, it’s 2012, and it’s due to be published.  I’m excited.  And I understand that rejection is just a part of the journey.

Plus, I received some other good news in the last two days.  A couple more of my pitches were accepted, and I hope to see the work in print soon.

But today, in another way, was a difficult day.  It’s hard to know where and when and how you’re going to find a gig.  And the waiting can be difficult.  I started selling ad space for a newspaper to supplement some of my income.  Well, I had a lot of silence in the beginning,  but it’s a start.

I’m looking forward to Thursday, because that is the day of the Berth 55’s open forum.  City officials, the owner of Berth 55, and members from the community will gather.  They’re going to discuss the closing of Berth 55.