We romanticize the number two. Especially when we’re young and full of fantasies like finding our other half. Even phrases like “other half” imply we’re incomplete, alone. In a sense, a young romantic is always counting.
Nine years ago this week, I wrote “Counting,” a 100-word story to explore that idea. This week, “Counting” was accepted & published in the debut issue of Wintersweet Magazine.
Heartbeats begin with one. Hopes divide. Countless, cloudy nights roll by, concealing every breathtaking North Star behind adolescent futures. But she’s not the one. You are.
Nine years is a long time for 100 words to linger. Why do some things take so long to find their home? I had a similar experience with “lying is the girl,” a hiccup drafted in 2007 and not published until 2018.
Why first drafts of flash are different
I revise flash fiction differently. I don’t enjoy revising longer pieces, because it’s harder to see the impact of your changes on the piece. Novels are excruciating on this front. I can yank a [weak] chapter with so many words, arguably improve the story, and feel like I hardly know what I’m doing.
But flash is different. One sentence, a word, a single comma, or even a line break can reshape the heart of a piece. I make an impact right away and that makes revision engaging. So, whereas I’d rarely submit a first draft of a short story (because it probably needs more love), I do extensive edits on a first draft of a flash.
First draft submissions
I submitted the first draft five times:
- New Flash Fiction Review — form rejection
- Pidgeonholes — form rejection
- Museum of Words — form rejection
- Popshot Magazine — never responded
- 100 Word Story — encouraging rejection
- KYSO Flash — accepted the other two pieces I sent with “Counting”
Only 100 Word Story responded with an encouraging rejection:
Dear Arthur,
Thank you for sending us “Counting”. We appreciate the chance to read it because we believe that making art is such a daring, wonderful act.
It’s difficult for us because despite the number of great pieces we receive, many of them don’t quite fit into our editorial needs. We’re glad you thought of us, though, and hope that you’ll submit again. We receive too many manuscripts to make individual comment possible, but we do wish you luck in placing this with another magazine.
Thanks again. Best of luck with this.
Sincerely,
100 Word Story
Second draft revision
I usually wait until ten rejections before moving on, but I revised again.
Some pronouns got spelled out.
“It begins with one.”
became the new opening line of
Heartbeats begin with one.
Loose transitions tightened with specificity.
And though countless, cloudy nights roll by,
became
Countless, cloudy nights roll by,
Dramatic breaks were added.
… concealing every breathtaking North Star to adolescent futures, she’s not the one.
became
… concealing every breathtaking North Star behind adolescent futures. But she’s not the one.
I culled a pretty, meandering sentence in favor of lengthened time in “until anniversaries arrive” and “wandering the winter nights.”
The ending—and the feeling—largely held.
I sighed and kept submitting.
Second draft submissions
I submitted the second draft a bunch from 2018–2021:
- Paper Darts — encouraging rejection
- Unstamatic — encouraging rejection
- Exposition Review — form rejection
- Typishly — encouraging rejection
- Electric Literature — form rejection
- The Centifictionist — form rejection
- Paranoid Tree — form rejection
- Tint Journal — form rejection
- Gordon Square Review — form rejection
- Sky Island Journal — form rejection
- Epiphany — form rejection
- Ruminate — form rejection
- Wrongdoing — encouraging rejection
Three places that later published me passed on “Counting:”
- From Whispers to Roars — form rejection
- Palooka — encouraging rejection
- The Racket — form rejection
Were the encouraging rejections all that encouraging?
Dear Arthur,
Thank you so much for submitting “Counting” to the Paper Darts Short Fiction Award. We are grateful for the time you spent writing your story.
Our finalists have been selected and sent off to our judge for her consideration. Unfortunately, yours was not among them. Look out for our future fiction contests, and we hope you’ll consider sending work to us for our regular submissions process.
Thank you,
The Paper Darts staff
Hello Arthur.
Good to reconnect with you. Thank you for sending your story to us. Regretfully, we won’t be able to publish your work this time. As you know, only a fraction of the short fiction we receive is selected, so even strong writing must sometimes be left out.
We’re grateful you chose to share your creativity with Typishly again. Lovely: ‘seconds that’ll multiply after first blush until anniversaries arrive.’ Wonderful: ‘hopes still divide like nuclei.’
Be well. Be creative.
Jon
Founding Editor | Typishly
Dear Arthur Klepchukov,
Thank you for giving us the opportunity to view your work. After careful consideration, we have determined that it is not quite the best fit for our publication, and we are unfortunately going to pass at this time.
We receive a great number of submissions each month, but in this span we can only accept two writing and two art submissions for publication. You have our sincerest thanks for making these choices so difficult.
Thank you for considering us, and we encourage you to submit again should you produce another piece you feel would suit unstamatic.
We are confident you will find another home for your work, and wish you the best of luck in doing so.
Sincerely,
The unstamatic Team
Dear Arthur,
Thanks for giving me the chance to read “”Duskwing,” “Glimmering Sidewalks,” and “Counting”,” though I’m sorry to say we won’t be publishing the work. I appreciate you sending along more of your writing. Your style is unique, and I like the strength of your line and the sound of your voice; there just wasn’t enough “story” in these for me.
All best,
Jonathan Starke, Editor
Dear Arthur,
Thank you so much for trusting us at Wrongdoing with your work. We appreciated the chance to consider it, however we ultimately found that it isn’t quite the right fit for the magazine. We encourage you to submit again in the summer/fall for our Thorns issue.
Thank you again for your submission; we hope you are keeping safe and well.
If you have sent us work in another category, you will receive a separate email regarding that submission in the near future.
Best wishes,
Pascale, Editor-in-Chief
Wrongdoing Magazine
Hitting pause
At the time, I used Trello for a bird’s-eye view of my stories. One of my least favorite but most sobering columns in that view is called “Ok if never published.”
After a few years of the occasional submission and being out of ideas for what’s next, guess what became the newest addition to the column?
Yep. I stopped counting.
Three years later, a third draft… as poetry?
In 2024, Clare from MacQueen’s Quinterly had a call for cheribuns. I wasn’t familiar with the form, but she’d published my flash before. I also missed working with a good editor. It had been a while since I had anything accepted, so I tried adapting a few of my shorter flash pieces. Could any work as a hybrid?
I reread “Counting.” The ending still made me long for others to read and feel it.
I experimented with breaking up choice lines from the second draft for dramatic effect. It felt new, but my other cheribuns had more promise.
None were accepted.
Back to second draft & fiction
In 2025, I stumbled across Crepuscular Magazine, which described itself as:
A micromagazine for stories of the in-between, the not quite, the kindasorta – and the creatures inhabiting the same.
None of the flash I was submitting felt right. I dug back into what I’d shelved.
I saw “Counting.” I remembered the cheribun experiment, shook my head, and reread the second draft.
That ending still had me.
I submitted.
Thank you for submitting your story to Crepuscular. Unfortunately, while we found much to admire, we’re returning it to you. Best of luck placing it elsewhere. Thank you for your interest in Crepuscular. We hope to read something from you in the future.
Best,
Rebecca
Last weekend
Literistic surfaced Wintersweet Magazine via their newsletter. Their about page said…
“不经一番寒彻骨，怎得梅花扑鼻香。”（How could the wintersweet exude its fragrant scent without having endured the bitter cold of winter?）— From “Sermon at the Hall” by Zen Master Huangbo, Tang Dynasty.
…which gave me the same itch as Crepuscular Magazine.
For the umpteenth time, I reread “Counting,” wondering if this was a 100-word darling that I wasn’t willing to kill.
But that end? It still had me.
So I sent it.
One day later?
Dear Arthur,
It is with absolute pleasure that we accept “Counting” for publication in the upcoming issue of Wintersweet Magazine.
We are aiming for a release date of 17 October…
We agreed to first serial rights. Olivia Wang, the Editor in Chief, was quick to respond. She got those one hundred words online as part of their very first issue (but who’s counting?)
Nine years. Twenty-one submissions. Three drafts. Two genres. I still feel that ending.
So, what are you “Counting” and holding on to?
