Received my four hundredth rejection a few days ago, from Analog. I think I announced my 300th around this time last year, though I’m too lazy to go back and check. But, ummm, yeah, that’s alot. And there have been two three-month periods this year where I wasn’t really submitting anything as the rejections came in.

It’s kind of impossible to be actively angry / resentful / sad after 400 rejections (which, by the way, is not even a particularly high number by apprentice writer standards). Mostly, they don’t even register at all. Though if it’s a relatively recent story being rejected I do still sometimes feel a slight sense of pique at my genius going unrecognized. But I think that’s neither unusual nor particularly destructive, if a sense of proportion is maintained.