Hello Victoria, I'm so sorry for your confusion but it does state in our guidelines that if you don't hear back from us within one week to consider the submission rejected. There were various issues with your submissions (formatting, stock photos, listicle-type articles) and not just one.

I know that's not what you want to hear but the good news is there are so many places to publish here on Medium. I would suggest finding smaller pubs or pubs that welcome newer writers in order to gain more writing experience here on Medium. We already have so many writers that we only accept just a few new ones at any given time, who are already a great fit for our publication. This too is clearly stated in our guidelines.

Hope all this helps! All the best to you, JoAnn