Early March 2026: 4 Goals Accomplished

It's early March and I've now accomplished my 4th writing goal for the year of 2026. Before diving into the behind-the-scenes of it... why not tell you up front what that accomplishment was? I was published in a 2nd publication for this year. Published in Helix Literary Magazine out of Central Connecticut State University. You can read it for free right now!

I got word that my story "The Edge of the End of the World" would be appearing in the winter issue of Helix earlier in the year and was so excited for the news. After that, it was just a matter of waiting until the issue was all good and ready to hit the world.

This was one of those stories in which I had an inkling of a thought... it lingered in my brain just long enough for me to say, "Hey, that could be a story." Really, it was the initial idea for a script long ago. It was something I hoped I could sit down with eventually and develop. But then my mind wandered back to it and wondered if there was a short story waiting there, a piece of the overall idea that could be written. And then the idea was really stuck in my brain.

So, then, I used my Free Time to write it. Every day when she isn't in hibernation, I take my California Desert Tortoise outside and we walk around the yard. Usually twice a day. Usually a total of two hours. Joey loves her little walks. She isn't too fast, so she's easy to keep up with. And it's fun walking around with her in the sun, but I've started using this Free Time to write certain stories that I feel I can work on. Certain stories that can come about in a stream of consciousness sort of way. This story felt like that, so I typed it out on my phone while walking around with Joey. After a few sessions, "The Edge of the End of the World" was complete.

I sent it out somewhere and it was turned down. I sent it out to a few more places. One of them shortlisted it, but ultimately they didn't accept it. Hey, this story must have something to it! It sure did, because the next email was the acceptance letter! The right home for "The Edge of the End of the World" was Helix Lit. I withdrew it from the other places and celebrated another acceptance!

There's something I feel that is always special about a story getting turned down, sometimes multiple times, and then getting accepted. It reminds me that getting turned down isn't the end of the world (or the edge of the world.) It isn't so bad if someone doesn't like it. It doesn't mean the story is bad. It just wasn't for them. I have proof of all of this with my stories that get turned down a few times only to later get accepted. It happens quite often. So, it gives me hope with all my other stories that are getting turned down. Some day they may see the light of day too. I look back at situations like this and realize that I don't need to worry about any of the rejections... the acceptances are on their way.

This is also a really fun one, not the story, well the story is fun too. A little morose, but fun at the same time. What's the word for that? Fucked up? That's two words. Anyway, yes, I hope people read the story and enjoy it for all the weirdness it possesses. But the situation I meant, that's what's fun. This is the 16th time that I have had a short story published. In just a few years, that is pretty great. I feel like my momentum is keeping up and things are really moving along in my writing career. But quite a few of my stories that have been published have been published in the same publications. So, it's 16 times I've been published with this one, but not 16 places.

And, in fact, this is the 10th publication that I have been published in! Number 10! In reality, 10 is an arbitrary number, but we put a lot of emphasis on multiples of 10 in our world... so I will keep up with that trend. 10 places! That's exciting. Maybe worthy of a little extra celebration. I remember when I was still looking for number 1, and getting stories turned down repeatedly. Left and right, up and down. It was a lot. But you don't get to number 1o without getting to number 1 first. And you don't get to number 1 without getting turned down dozens of times first. That's just how it goes.

Quite pleased with number 16. Quite pleased with number 10. Quite pleased with my 4th goal accomplished in 2026.