I saw who the email was from and sighed. How will this rejection be? I wonder and click on the message, face slightly turned away, wincing.
We would love to have your story appear in our 13th issue, scheduled for publication in May 2011. It will be another week or so before I can send out the contracts, but this offer is firm. If that is your artwork you’ve sent with the story, I’d love to have that on the site as well. Please let me know if this is acceptable.
What? My sharp intake of breath got my husband’s attention. “What’s wrong?” he asked.
I read the message again. And again.
My husband stepped closer to me. “What is it?”
I half believed that if I told him what I thought I was reading, I would look back and be proven wrong.
The shock of acceptance–here in May!
Marta Pelrine-Bacon 
It is good that this has happened for you. From here on in, the ride is more interesting. You will never know what is in those envelopes or emails. You might think you know. But now you are a card-carrying member of the world of surprise. Wonder of wonders, the note might not even be from an editor; it might be from a reader, who had to take the time to tell you what your work meant…
Well, even if the story sinks beneath the waves, at least it will have sailed for a bit. What a world.
Wooo! That’s awesome news!! Congratulations!
I bet you did the Snoopy happy dance around the living room for this one! LOL
NOW can we say, “We told you so!”? 😉
Congratulations again hon, I’m happy for you. 😀
Thank you, Darcs. I danced and I cried.
Congratulations, Marta. You deserve it. Remind me when it’s closer to pub time and I’ll promote it on my Facebook and blog.
I’m sure when it is pub time, I will drive everyone crazy blathering on about it.
This is wonderful news. And what a perfect venue for your work.
Thank you, Squirrel. I remember thinking it was a great venue, but I didn’t imagine they’d take me.
Time to get this party started!
!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Started and ongoing.
What everybody else said. This was terrific news.
It looks like a wonderful market, Marta. (Love this, e.g.)
Thank you, JES. Hard to believe it really.
Congratulations, Marta! Fantastic, if not unexpected, news!
(NOT unexpected, because we know you have talent. The rest of the world just needs to catch up and realize it.)
Unexpected to me. Still unexpected–like I’ve misread the acceptance and surely it is a joke. They can’t mean it, can they?
🙂 Congrats!!!
Congratulations on the acceptance! That’s wonderful!