Accepting Rejection Letters

The badge (or should I say badges) of a real writer are rejection letters. You can't become a writer without receiving them — probably a box full. You don't have to like them, but everyone gets them, even the big guys.  It's just how the game's played. 

I try to have a little fun with them — rating them  by their pain factor. 

Least Painful

If they aren't going to buy my story, I prefer the generic: "Thank you for your submission, but it doesn't meet our needs at this time. Good luck." Unfortunately, the letter doesn't give me much insight into what they didn't like about my story, but it's easy read. 

More Painful

"Not interested" scribbled across the cover page is worse. On the bright side, it's green — it doesn't waste paper — and it does get the message across, but why so angry? What's wrong with "No thank you"? 

I once received a rejection from an agent on a piece of paper about half the size of a business card. It came in a standard size envelope and on one side read, "Not interested" and on the other was printed the name of the agency.  The sorry piece of paper looked liked it had been copied a 100 times. I could easily imagine 100's of these tiny rejections printed on a sheet of copy paper and some poor receptionist cutting them out and mailing them off. 

Dagger to the Heart

The most painful letters are those that go into detail about what's wrong with your story. Oddly, these are the best letters. They give you much needed feedback, and show that the publisher/agent/producer really cares about the story.  If you get one of these, smile and celebrate -- that's after a good cry. You're making headway.

Horrific

Of course, once in a while you get an agent that just has to tell you just how terrible your story/idea/writing/character really is. Not much you can do about these, but save it so you can can rub in that person's face when you're famous.  

To cheer me up, I like to read Pushcart's Complete Rotten Reviews and Rejections. You'll find  great rejections dished out to everyone from Emily Bronte to Dr. Seuss. If memory serves, Dr. Seuss received over 80 rejections before being published. 80!! One of his rejections read:  "too different from other juveniles on the market to warrant its selling."

So join the club of writers. Collect your badges of honor and keep writing! 

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