Dealing with Rejection Slips

It's hard to keep going in the face of rejection, especially when you think it was a good piece and perfect for the market to which you submitted it. You have to remember that literature, and the assessment of it is entirley a matter of taste, meaning that editors are not any more qualified in the judgment of quality than their readers who didn't go to school or major in English Lit. Editors don't know how to pick a winner any more than the average joe in the street who they depend on to keep their presses running. It's all about what you like. Editors are there to check grammar and spelling, and make sure that the work is not exactly like something else they have published before, that's the true editorial function, everything else is caprice. They choose stories on whim, because of the kind of day they are having, on something they read the night before. All you can do is get your work to where you feel satisfied with it, submit it, and then hope for the best.