Keepin' track of what and where

Happy Friday!

Writer and playwright Monica Byrne (who I discovered through the blog of playwright and actress Emily Kaye Lazzaro) posted an amazing piece about success and rejection:

1. Of all the things I’ve ever submitted to or applied for, I’ve gotten 3% of them.
2. I’ve been rejected before being accepted. See: FringeNYC, Millay Colony for the Arts, Shimmer, Impact Theatre, North Carolina Arts Council Fellowship.
3. I’ve been rejected after being accepted. See: Durham Emerging Artist Grant, and God knows more to come.
4. A work’s rejection rate has no clear relationship to its eventual success. In various guises, The Girl in the Road and What Every Girl Should Know have each been rejected 67 times.
5. Of all submissions I made to theaters that accepted unsolicited submissions, 68% never replied at all.
6. My personal rejection rate is 17%, which is great and kept me afloat a number of times. (Thank you, anyone who ever took the time to write me.)
7. Yes, I’ve written exactly one erotica story. It’s about a trip to the ophthalmologist. It’s great.
8. The same week my huge publishing deal went down, I was rejected from the third of three MFA programs I’d applied to. C’est la vie!

Read the rest here!

In particular, be sure to look at the spreadsheet she uses to keep track of what she's submitted and where. Wow.

If that doesn't inspire you to up your game, I'm uncertain anything will.

See you Sunday with Week 25's story!