My first published short story was rejected thirty-one times. If I were less stubborn (or perhaps less masochistic), I would have tossed it long before then. By about the tenth rejection, I was wondering if my story was just no good, and by the twentieth I was questioning if anything I put on paper had any merit. But I am stubborn (and just a bit masochistic). By surrounding myself with like-minded and talented writers, who provided me with important feedback and encouragement, I was able to keep at it. They helped me view the rejections as challenges — and the comments that came with them — as opportunities to hone the story and make it even stronger. The thirty-second time was the charm: The right editor, at the right time, read and wanted my story, and her magazine even requested more of my writing. An important professional relationship grew from working together. None of that – or this journal– would exist if I’d given up at the tenth “no.”
I’ve been amazed, in the past year, to find that so many people experience the same anxieties — what if my work isn’t good enough? What is the normal number of rejections before I give up? — that I have had over my writing career, yet few major forums discuss them. Creative writing has always been, and always will be, an accessible field — anyone can do it. But that doesn’t mean everyone can do it well – evoke strong emotions in their readers and create impactful characters and stories. There is a craft to writing that can’t be ignored, and I’ve come to a new appreciation of two of its fundamental principles: “rejection” and “revision.” The volume of submissions to any journal turns a writer’s prospects into a game of numbers — hundreds, sometimes thousands, of unsolicited submissions per month, with only twenty or so pieces, a couple of times per year, actually published. One has a better chance of being admitted into Harvard (4.92%) than of being published in, say, The Georgia Review (0.92%). Worse, the majority of these submissions aren’t yet ready to be published — they are often unrevised, first-time-around pieces that are several drafts away from being truly finished.
But what if every submission to a literary journal was a story or poem the writer has sat with and reworked over time, taking feedback gleaned from multiple rejections, rather than work created in the spur of the moment? Would the polish that comes from the right combination of stubbornness and faith shine through?
Enter Eleventh Hour Literary, which we’ve dubbed the “Journal of Perseverance.” Our motto is “Rejected, Revised, and Revisited,” and our hope is to bolster the writing community by destigmatizing the rejection process and celebrating the art of revision. We have been pleasantly surprised at how this mission has resonated with so many writers, and we have received many stellar stories and words of encouragement as a result. In this, our inaugural issue, we present an essay from our guest contributor, Jay Neugeboren, about his rejection-strewn path to publication, part of a series we hope to continue in future issues as an inspiration to our community of writers to never give up. We have our 2025 Inaugural Prose Winner, Libby Cudmore, with a modern revisioning of a classic literary heroine. We have stories about memory, motherhood, identity— and, yes, perseverance.
Every single contributor has gone through the rejection and revision process, and the stories presented here are often very different from their original form. All are stronger for it, and most importantly, all of them have now found a home in our publication. We offer them to you, the reader.
With much gratitude to you,
R. Renee Branca
R. Renee Branca earned her master’s and doctorate in literature at Binghamton University. She is currently the director of the Binghamton University Lyceum (College of Community and Public Affairs), where her focus is on community engagement and higher education non-profit administration. She is the author of the story collection I Would For You (2024). Her work has appeared or is forthcoming in Orca, A Literary Journal; december; Cagibi; Sixfold; Bowery Gothic; Harpur Palate and elsewhere. Visit her at r-renee-branca.com.
ELEVENTH HOUR LITERARY 