Accepting Rejection

My critique group is having a contest to see who can garner the most rejections, and I'm determined to win. I'm grateful for the competition because it has been spurring me to submit. When I've had pieces rejected recently, I've actually been a tiny bit happy because they add to my total. It also helps to tell other people about my rejections instead of feeling ashamed of them. It's as if I've finally, finally come to realize that everyone was right when they said that rejection is just part of the business.

So today I mailed off five stories in hopes of increasing either my acceptance count or my number of rejections. It's win-win, really. The man behind the counter looked at one of the envelopes and said, "Anchorage? Are you thinking about going there?" When I told him I wasn't, he informed me that he lived there for two years when he was in the Army. He shared the stories of the time he was hospitalized thanks to an encounter with a moose (he got too close to a calf, and the father came at him) and the time he was chased by a bear. I walked away smiling; in exchange for the five stories I'd sent out, I'd gotten two more.