I had submitted two short stories to the CBC Short Story Contest.
It was a longshot, given that I have just returned to writing consistently after god knows how many years). But I’m a firm believer of reaching high and not rejecting yourself from consideration.

The shit thing about these contests is the lack of feedback. All I know is that my stories weren’t the top 1% of what they received. Beyond that, I’m working with nothing. So I will just keep writing and keep tweaking, keep looking for outlets for these pieces and the next ones.

And that is the good thing about the rejections, I am now free to look for the next home for these pieces. They will eventually find a home because they are objectively not awful (even if I cannot guage how “good” they are, I know they are coherent, thematically interesting, written in a clear and unique voice, etc.) - so I’ll find them a home somewhere, and then I’ll be able to share them more widely. I think that’s the most frustrating part - I want people to be able to look at these stories, but if I put them up here prior to publication, I can’t publish them.