REFLECTIONS ON REJECTIONS

“Your submission doesn’t fit our current needs.”

How many times have we been given that message? None of us enjoys being rejected, but for writers it comes in routine doses.

Most editors and agents seem to have rote responses. “This manuscript isn’t for me, but another agent might like it.”

That makes me feel as if I’m in the middle of the ocean with no life preserver. Can you at least suggest that mythical other agent? Or tell me why it isn’t for you? Probably the agent/editor didn’t even get past the first paragraph..

We’re usually told to send the first ten or fifty pages, but want to bet nothing past page one gets looked at? I know a writer who inserted a small piece of paper into the middle of a chapter. Sure enough, when the manuscript was returned the paper was still in place.

Then there’s the impersonal form that states, “We know how painful it is to receive a rejection….” (Do you really?) And then adds, “carefully reviewed your work.,,. not a reflection of its quality…” ad nauseum. Condescending ? Yes. Helpful? No.

Years ago, I received a response from a magazine I won’t identify that had a formula check list of why a submission was rejected, ending with “What makes you think you’re a writer?” (Imagine how many suicidal thoughts that must have created.) Mercifully, that box wasn’t checked on my communication, just the “not for us” which seemed benign by comparison.
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Actually these form rejections, irritating as they are, are better than the manuscript that’s returned without any explanation. This once happened to me with no less a reputable magazine than the “Atlantic Monthly. Out of a masochistic desire to hit back I phoned to say, “I wonder if you forgot to include a message?”
“Sorry about that,” said a smooth voice.”But we can read the rejection to you.”
“Don’t bother,” I said. “I know it by heart.”

Increasingly rejections are accompanied by an invitation to subscribe to the magazine. I applaud the response used by a North Carolina writer, Stan Absher. Using the magazine’s postage paid envelope he sent the subscription form back with his notation: ”Your magazine doesn’t fit my current beeds.”
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It’s tempting to emulate him, him, but then again,you have to realize this may put you and your stories on some permanent NO FLY list.

The worst is when we reject ourselves. A friend recently told me, “Another rejection, I’m a failure.”

What we have to inscribe in our minds is that, discouraging as they are, rejections aren’t failure. Giving up is.

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