Carrie Callahan

Rejection sucks, but you know what sucks more? Letting yourself disappear. I heard back from Clarion West today. It's the second time I've applied to the workshop, and the second time I've been rejected. On the plus side, I got the "good" rejection you may have seen floating about, so that's something--and that something is everything. Not every publication is gonna like your stories, not every workshop will think you're the best fit for their class, and not every agent is for you. Still, rejection can feel like failure. But there is failing, and then there is failing up . Failing up means recognizing when a rejection doesn't mean "never," just "not right now." When that dreaded e-mail comes, sometimes it's not saying "you suck," but "you're getting better!" or "you're so close. " This is the carrot in the stick-preferring world of writing that can get you through to the next su...

Net Neutrality, for those unfamiliar, is the idea that all websites should be allowed to the ability to upload/download at whatever rate the viewer has, with the variation being from person to person not website to website. For example, if I have 15mb/s download, then all websites will download at that rate. Now, each website has different content but that content doesn't affect my download rate. This seems like something completely integral to the internet. Until recently, I didn't even know the internet could run differently. So what changed? Some companies - Verizon, AT & T, and Comcast to name a few - want not only to dictate the speeds at which users can download, but the speed at which websites can upload. What does this mean? It means that, regardless of your 15mb/s download, some websites may only be accessible at, say, 3mb/s. So, even though you're paying for access, the website you are accessing might not be. Your access means nada at that point, and if w...