22,000 words

It might as well be my Mt Everest. Last October, I submitted an 18k Valentines's Day story for an open call for submissions. I received an 'R' response, but some very constuctive feedback. Part of which included lengthening the story to 30k or even 50k. I am still trying to pump up my word count. I've only written one story above the 50k mark so far. Rejected for publication (I only sent it to one house), it sits on a digital shelf in my laptop waiting. I find it far easier to write novella length. But I am pushing out of my comfort zone and I hit 28k on my wip this week. Only 22,000 words to go.