Gemotions

The rejection email sat, a malignant little square, in her inbox. She scrolled through her Twitter feed, a habit she’d vowed to break, and saw it: Sarah Chen, who’d been in her writing group, had just announced her book deal with the very same publisher. A coldness settled in her stomach, a feeling like ice water had been poured down her throat.

She slammed her laptop shut, the sound echoing in her otherwise silent apartment. This wasn't fair. Sarah's novel was… fine. Acceptable, at best. Her own, she thought, was brilliant, a masterpiece.

She marched to the kitchen and made a pot of the strongest coffee she could manage, the bitterness mirroring the taste in her mouth. As she drank, she read the rejection email again, the carefully worded criticism stinging with each passive-aggressive phrase. She wanted to scream.