S.J. Culver writes: “I got a rejection note for a short story I had sent out to a magazine 838 days previously. … while that magazine was considering whether to publish my 16-page story: I grew my hair ten inches; I paid off a car loan, I did my taxes (three times); I got my own apartment; I read 131 books; I attended two weddings and a baby shower; I cut my hair off again; I drove across the country three times.”