Friday, February 11, 2011

Rejection Slips

Today I received a message in my inbox from an online literary journal that I had submitted some work to a couple of months ago. It was a rejection letter. *sigh*  Rejection letters are an inevitable part of embarking on the getting published journey, but this letter really made me pout, because instead of just saying "sorry, we can't accept any of your poems," they said "sorry, we can't accept any of your poem, but that particular one, titled x is really good, and we almost selected it for publication in this quarter's journal."

Encouragement? Yeah...I guess. But I think maybe I would have preferred just a "nope." Then I wouldn't have to dwell and dwell on having almost been published.



9 comments:

  1. :( Share the poem with us!

    I am waiting for my rejection letter too. Ahhh!

    ReplyDelete
  2. I'm sorry, hun :( And yes, share the poem!!

    ReplyDelete
  3. @Abbi: No, no, no! Don't say "waiting for a rejection letter." Nothing's decided until it's decided. For all you know, they could be marveling at the new, brilliant poet they've just discovered!

    I'd post the poem, but I'm afraid doing so constitutes a form of "self publishing." I'd like to resubmit it to other journals, and many such journals stipulate that that submissions must not have been published elsewhere.

    Also, it's a rather dark, sardonic poem... not all that happy.

    ReplyDelete
  4. I'm sorry about the rejection - but yes, as a fellow writer I think that is an encouraging rejection slip! It'd make my day. ;)

    Just stopping by to tell you that YOU ARE THE WINNER OF MY ETSY GIVEAWAY !!!! Please give me your email address via FB or the blog so I can pass it on to Violet Bella! She is creating a gift card to email to you.

    Happy shopping!

    - Lauren

    ReplyDelete
  5. That is sad, but that was a hopeful letter. Keep trying and eventually it will pan out.

    ReplyDelete
  6. Oh I am think they are letting you know to try again..perhaps they just ran out of room wishing they could publish it?:-}

    ReplyDelete
  7. Ahhhh!!!! Oh my god, I won something!! Thanks, Lauren! I'll drop by with my e.mail address.

    And thank you, ladies for the encouragement!

    ReplyDelete
  8. Im sorry
    Maybe it just needs to be sent to someone else that will appreciate your words.
    I bet its great

    ReplyDelete
  9. I don't think you ever get over "the letter," especially when you know it's good work. Part of the game but definitely not fun!

    ReplyDelete

LinkWithin

Related Posts Plugin for WordPress, Blogger...