Published.

Several years ago I wrote a short story called "Raphael".

It was born in a time when I was really struggling with my writing, after I'd just finished my last fan fiction and I was reeling from the deaths of two grandparents, and I had a love/hate relationship with it. I loved the idea; I hated the way that I'd executed it.

So at the end of last year I did some rewriting and gave the story a serious edit, and when 2017 rolled around and I decided it was time to start submitting my work, "Raphael" was the first story I thought of.

I submitted it to two publications just so I could say I did it, I submitted. I wanted to build up my collection of rejection letters. Because every great writer needs one of those, right?

I got my first rejection two days later.

And then, four months after submitting, I received my first acceptance letter.

And now I can proudly say that Raphael has been published by online literary magazine 2 Elizabeths.

At a time when I'm again struggling with my writing, this was much needed. I'm so proud of my little story and how far it has come.