I am excited to tell you that my short story "The Talk of Sephardim" was accepted to Sephardic Horizons for their summer issue.

It's one of those stories that I started more than a decade ago and every once in a while, I took it out, asked someone to read it, frowned over their feedback, played with it some more. Then I would put it out of my mind for a few years.

Every time I did workshop it, I could tell the reader just did not completely get it. I kept dabbling.  

Then I sent it to a literary magazine who sent me personalized feedback: they liked it but it was too long. This really motivated me. That was a few months ago and  more than a decade after I began writing this story. When Sephardic Horizons asked me if I had anything unpublished, I automatically thought of this story, revised it again and I was more secure about sending it to them because one editor had liked it and took the time to tell me so instead of sending a standard rejection note.

The moral of my story: don't give up. Sometimes you find a home for your work a decade after you plant the first seed and it will be worth it. This is the ideal audience for this story. 

Let me know if you have a similar experience in the comments below.