Week 35 — Year of Short Stories 2026

2026 is another year of short stories. In this weekly series, I track my short story writing, from idea and draft to submission. This is the week of Aug 31 – Sept 6. Stats Stories Finished: 3 Submissions Currently Out: 11 Submissions Total: 35 Rejections: 26 Acceptances: 0 Submissions and Responses I received two form rejections this week, for Red Eye and Taco Cat. One of these was from Clarkesworld, which I submitted to because I knew I could be confident that I’d get a response within a week and be able to send to another publication with a relatively near-term deadline. I honestly don’t understand how Clarkesworld can pay pro rates and still respond to the onslaught of submissions so quickly, but I do appreciate it. I ended up sending two new submissions for Red Eye and another for Taco Cat. If nothing else, I am keeping my stories circulating. Goals My goals from last week: Keep up with critiques Hit writing/editing quotas every day. Critiques have been going well. My horror…