A Micromemoir Fail

By Suzette Mullen

Seven years after my divorce, I was part of a beautiful tableau: my wife and I, my ex-husband and his wife, and my two sons and their partners together for cocktails on the beach. This moment represented the post-divorce life I’d desired, and which had, in my view, been long—too long—in the making.

I wrote a “tiny love story” about it—a 100-word essay I planned to submit to the New York Times. Damn, I was proud of this piece. I shared it with my sons and some colleague...