#rejection slips

Hi Joyce,

My apologies for the long delay! Thank you so much for the chance to review BLOOD PROMISE. While we loved the concept and your interesting take on fairies in a rapidly growing genre, ultimately I didn’t connect with the manuscript as much as I wanted to. April’s voice and your writing were really beautiful, and I found her parts of the story compelling, but I felt somewhat disconnected…

American Novelist and Short Story Writer, Erskine Caldwell (1903-1987)

“I would go home in the evening and write short stories and mail them to magazine editors in New York. The stories, no matter how many times I rewrote them, were always returned, usually without comment, with unfailing promptness. I received so many rejection slips, and such an interesting variety, that I passed them neatly into a stamp collector’s album.  The only consolation I ever got out of them for many years was in visualizing how big a celebration bonfire I could make with them when I had my first short story accepted and published in a magazine.” Erskine Caldwell*, “Call it Experience,” in The Creative Writer

Many many years ago – circa 1964 – I read The Creative Writer (quoted above), which is out of print now. You can find old copies, not that you necessarily need to. Much is outdated. At the time, I found it helpful and inspirational. The book, a collection of instructional and inspirational essays, was published by Writer’s Digest, the publishers of the magazine by that name.  This was my go-to place to hob-nob with writers and publishers, a publication I read through high school and even into my son’s grammar school years. He told me not too long ago that as a child he found it rather magical that it showed up no matter where we moved.

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My other go-to magazine was The Writer. These magazines didn’t so much teach me how to write as offer me some knowledge of the business of writing, which has changed much since then, a story perhaps for another day. The articles I read  instilled a sense of perspective, rational expectations (do NOT read lowered expectations), and a stronger determination. I discovered that sending my writing out into the world is like applying for a job. I do my homework and refine my technique and that improves the odds. Nonetheless, it’s still a numbers game and I may never know why I get a rejection slip. I don’t always know why I get an acceptance letter (or email) either.

Reading what others had to say about the business of studying markets, writing query letters and submitting work helped me to understand that I had to keep on keeping on. This was a good thing. My first poem was published when I was seventeen and that created some rather unrealistic expectations. I thought I was such a hot-shot that my seventeenth year was also the year I submitted a short story to Mademoiselle magazine (closed 2001) for its annual fiction contest. The contest was for college students. I was still in high school. I lied and put Brooklyn College on the entry form. Joyce Carol Oats won.

All this is to say I am reminded of my history because now and again I get emails from discouraged writers and I’m finally – FINALLY – getting around to reading Victor Villaseñor’s Macho!  Apropos this post, I found his dedication interesting: “To my parents …. after ten years of writing and 260 rejections – my first one! …” 

Also interesting is his author’s note to the 1997 paperback edition:

Mexican-American Writer, Victor Villaseñor (b. 1940)

“In re-reading Macho! I found out that I am not the same person who wrote that book twenty years ago. I thought of rewriting parts of it – feeling almost ashamed of some sections. But then I got to thinking, hell, the 60s were the 60s and that’s who I was then, so I’m not going to change it. It’s rough and sometimes it sings as badly off-key as Bob Dylan – he was no Joan Baez, believe me – but what it says is still important.”

In my small way, I know what he means by the roughness and dissonance. I’ve been shredding years of my newspaper column clips. After reading a couple, I couldn’t stand it. Not only did I dislike much of the writing but I disagreed with the opinions I’d expressed. One problem with writing is that floundering is so visible. I shudder to think who among family, friends and colleagues might have read that material. It does take a certain amount of chutzpah.

Yes! I know what you think. Writing is an art. It’s also a job. Every job has its downside. With writing it’s rejection slips, growing personally and artistically in public, and that aspect of the business that requires some sales savvy, something most of us would rather not pursue. These, however, are part of the package.  

*After some 360 rejections, Erskine Caldwell went on to critical acclaim and controversy for Tobacco Road (1931) and God’s Little Acre (1933), both made into movies. Twenty-five of his novels, 150 of his short stories, twelve nonfiction collections, two autobiographies and two YA books were published. He edited American Folkways, a series of books about various regions in the U.S. Apparently, he got over rejection slips, chalked them up to “experience” and moved on.

My celebration bonfire: Not a bonfire at all, just shredding and shedding of old clips I’d rather not see anymore and feeling grateful for the lessons learned, the opportunities enjoyed, the writing life and my fellow poets and writers who enrich my time on earth with their own art and insights.

c David Mitchell from his Amazon Page

“I got a rejection letter from an editor at HarperCollins, who included a report from his professional reader. This report shredded my first-born novel, laughed at my phrasing, twirled my lacy pretensions around and gobbed into the seething mosh pit of my stolen clichés. As I read the report, the world became very quiet and stopped rotating. What poisoned me was the fact that the report’s criticisms were all absolutely true. The sound of my landlady digging in the garden got the world moving again. I slipped the letter into the trash…knowing I’d remember every word.” English novelist, David Mitchell, author of seven novels, two of which were shortlisted for the Man Booker

© 2018, Jamie Dedes; photocredits, Erskine Caldwell (1975), public domain and Victor Villaseñor courtesy of Jeffrey Beall under CC BY-SA 3.0 license.

ABOUT

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Poet and writer, I was once columnist and associate editor of a regional employment publication. I currently run this site, The Poet by Day, an information hub for poets and writers. I am the managing editor of The BeZine published by The Bardo Group Beguines (originally The Bardo Group), a virtual arts collective I founded.  I am a weekly contributor to Beguine Again, a site showcasing spiritual writers. My work is featured in a variety of publications and on sites, including: Levure littéraure, Ramingo’s Porch, Vita Brevis Literature,Compass Rose, Connotation Press, The Bar None Group, Salamander Cove, Second Light, I Am Not a Silent Poet, Meta / Phor(e) /Play, and California Woman. My poetry was recently read by Northern California actor Richard Lingua for Poetry Woodshed, Belfast Community Radio. I was featured in a lengthy interview on the Creative Nexus Radio Show where I was dubbed “Poetry Champion.”

* The BeZine: Waging the Peace, An Interfaith Exploration featuring Fr. Daniel Sormani, Rev. Benjamin Meyers, and the Venerable Bhikkhu Bodhi among others

“Every pair of eyes facing you has probably experienced something you could not endure.” Lucille Clifton

Doing the pulp thing

True to the pulp rule that stories should be kept doing the rounds until they sell1, I got a rejection slip at 8 am, and by 10 am I had revised and sent the story to another publisher. It’s a very short, quirky piece and should make me no more than fifty bucks, but that’s no excuse for it to be idle. Run, little story, and please do your best to impress the editor!

I think it was Bob Heinlein…

Understanding rejection slips

By Jennifer Jaynes

Why do you put yourself through this torture?

You think you’ve nailed it

You watch for the postman, day after day, and finally he arrives with the SASE envelope you so lovingly sealed weeks before. Your heart pounding, you run to the mailbox (in your towel) and snatch it out of his hands. It feels awfully light, but you ignore that minor detail.

You dash back into the house and slam the door behind you. Letting the towel slip to the floor, somewhere between the foyer and living room, you now stand next to the kitchen counter.

Taking a deep breath, you pry it open. Then you read: “Dear Author, “Thank you for your submission. However this piece is not for us…”

Your breath catches in your throat. You feel your spirit being sucked from your very being. Reaching foryour towel, you curse angrily. What does this person know anyway? He doesn’t know me! But as your anger subsides and you realize that there’s a reason this person is in the position he’s in, you ultimately begin to do the worst thing possible: You begin to question your worth as a writer. 

Why do you put yourself through this torture?

I’ll tell you why. Because rejection slips go with the territory. For a writer, rejection slips are simply a rite of passage—and by understanding what they are and what they aren’t, you may not only ease some ofthe pain, you’ll grow as a writer.

All writers suffer rejection.

Yes, even the greats. An editor from the San Francisco Examiner sent this in a rejection letter to Rudyard Kipling: “I am sorry, Mr. Kipling, but you just do not know how to use the English language.”

Even e.e. cummings wasn’t immune to rejection. Did you know it was cummings’ mother who first published his poems after a dozen publishers rejected them? Beatrix Potter’s "The Tale of Peter Rabbit" was rejected at least six times before she published it herself. If these acclaimed authors faced rejection, why wouldn’t you or I?

Rejections aren’t personal.

Publishing is a business, not an art. If the agent or editor thinks he can sell your idea or manuscript, he’ll buy it. Perhaps your piece wasn’t for that editor, that particular day. Maybe he had a similar piece in the queue. In fact, there are many trivial factors that determine whether or not a publisher decides to buyyour book. Most times it doesn’t have anything to do with the quality of your manuscript. So don’t take it personally.

Value criticism.

If an agent/editor scribbles a note on your rejection letter, pay attention! More often than not, writers are simply sent a form letter and left to wonder why a piece was rejected. If he scribbles some advice, don’t discount it just yet—there may be some merit to it. For instance, if you repeatedly get rejections on a certain piece, or a comment is made by more than one editor, you will want to consider the possibility that maybe your piece really isn’t sharp enough (not yet). Conversely, do not make changes you do not feel are right. Talk to someone who has read your work and find out what they think about the suggestion.

Rejections should be seen as a sign of accomplishment.

Rejections are a sign that you’re working hard. Be proud that you actually wrote something, polished it, researched your markets, and mailed it out. That in itself is an accomplishment. Most people will go totheir graves with the unrealized intention of getting this far!

Don’t let rejection slips slow you down.

You’re chasing your dream and, if you want it badly enough, don’t quit. If you want it badly enough, nothing can stop you from catching it.

A version of this article appeared at JenniferJaynes.com

Jennifer Jaynes

No Selection for Old Farts

26/09/16

To The Poetry Review:

Dear Sarah and Maurice

Your last communication brings the number of my poems that have been rejected for publication by your review to twenty-six. This is since 2014.

  The Castaway

Scrabble

The Glider

Birth of the Dance

Lord of Storms

Silent Highway

The Frustrated Poltergeist

Dear Cashmere

Partnerless Dancer

Flesh and Blood

Depressions

Python

Architects

From Inside