well, I WAS feeling better.

last night, I got mostly done with the heel-flap on the Whidby sock. It's looking good. I'm learning you CAN use variegated yarns for socks with fancy stitch patterns, as long as they are light-colored and not-busy variegateds.

But then this morning: woke up feeling queasy (probably "female stuff") but came into work anyway. Received my second journal article rejection in a single week.

that hurts. that just hurts.

I dug out the first rejection and decided to read the comments, which I had not felt up to reading before, but since my day is now ruined anyway, I might as well.

There is not one word of constructive criticism in the comments. Basically, it's an "oh, this was proven back in 1933, why bother researching it any more" dismissal.

now, this is a paper I've run by other people and been told was "good" and had important information. So I'm stuck with the cognitive dissonance of wondering who was not telling me the truth - the people who were telling me it was "good," were they just trying to make me feel good? or is this guy someone with some kind of underlying agenda, or is it a "it's not what you know it's who you know" issue.

So I'm not sure where to go from here. I have e-mailed my co-author with news of the rejection (but I suspect he's on vacation right now), and as for the other rejection, which could be rewritten with perhaps some more research done this fall, I'm going to let it sit for a day or two.

I hate this. I hate "finishing" something just to have to go back and redo the whole thing. That's why I like knitting and quilting - I can usually look at it right away and know if it's "right" or not. None of this sending it off and waiting weeks to months to hear that you need to redo everything.

which is also why I will never enter my work in a juried competition. I need ONE thing in my life that I'm not being judged on.