I feel this. Two of my strongest, most marketable stories keep getting shortlisted at the pros but can't crack the TOC. Running out of spots. In my case, it's cosmic payback for all the great stories I shortlisted but had to pass on when I ran a mag...

Yup. I keep getting held by some really big markets, but ultimately no bites so far this year. I didn’t submit anything the first half of the year though, so I guess that’s on me. Your cosmic payback theory gave me a genuine LOL, though, as I did the exact same thing when I ran one years back…