writer, etc.
Another rejection last week. It was fine. However, I stumbled across an interview with a literary magazine editor that tripped me up. This was the editor’s advice to writers: Don’t take rejection personally. This way of thinking is as pervasive as it is outmoded. No, I don’t believe agents/publishers/magazines dislike me when they reject my…
I’ve been reading about medieval animal trials this week. As in, people used to bring in misbehaving animals to court and put them on trial for their crimes. My friend sent me an article about it at least six months ago, but I only now got around to reading it because I’m a horrid friend….
I got a rejection this morning but was too busy feeling groggy from too much melatonin to care. Physically, it felt like a sharp shove but then I remembered I had more important things to deal with today. In any event, it’s probably time to tell you about my, uh, let’s say peculiar, family. Specifically,…
I got a rejection on Sunday while parked in some snow on a random side street in Chicago. Surprisingly enough, it was a positive rejection, and the editors encouraged me to submit again soon. Finally, I got a pitying shoulder squeeze instead of a punch to the face. God, what a relief. I must…
I knew it was a rejection before I even knew it was a rejection. I don’t know why, but this particular magazine was bumping around in my thoughts all day on Friday. Nauseatingly hopeful bubbles formed in my head that morning as I thought about some of the pieces they’d published. Mine would fit in…
I got a rejection at 4 A.M. on Saturday. I’m not taking it too, too personally, but I like to pretend the following is what happened: The editor read my piece on Friday night, and oooh, it sent them into a rage. They hated it. They hated it so much. But the other editors were…
Got a rejection today, and it sent me into a mild rage. Pro tip: Don’t ask me to like your social media pages after you reject me. In case you, dear phantom reader, think I’m thin-skinned and whiny– oh wait, that’s actually true. Regardless, my point is that I am no stranger to rejection. At…
Got a rejection yesterday. Made me roll my eyes, but it didn’t hurt. Progress, yes? You know what’s weird, though? French handwriting. I grew up writing French cursive, and my teachers did their best to beat the classic rounded letters into my terrified fingers. Cursive was ridiculously important to them. Some twenty-ish years later, a…
The person with whom I share a marriage license wrote two short stories several years ago, and I think they’re awesome. I’m not saying this as a starry-eyed wifey because I assure you, I’ve hated some of his other work and have no problem bleeding comments all over his pages. These stories are awesome because…
I realized the other day I was down to two pending submissions and fast approaching the “assuming the lack of response is a rejection” dates for both. I’m starting to enjoy the rejection as a catalyst for blogging (something I usually hate but that the industry assures me is essential), so I sent out another…