should I read a comment like this: "very much in the style of short stories that you would find in popular magazines and would have a great appeal to women" and feel good? or suicidal? the thing is, I don't want to "appeal to women." I want to appeal to humans. fortunately, while I take editing fairly well, I can also take editor's comments with a grain of salt. particularly when they come in soothing rejection letters. and when I disagree with someone's assessment of whether my character is acting realistically or not, I am quite happy to ignore those comments. ah well, could be worse. could be: "give up, you have no chance."

tonight I sunk very low indeed. haven't been able to write much lately due to illness and work, and have almost nothing due to come out. then the above rejection letter came in. so after updating my records to include said rejection, I read my "literary cv" to remind myself that at least a couple of editors have liked me. or have liked maybe 2 % of my total output. sigh.