A Rejection Letter to be Proud of.

Anyone who writes and actually submits their work knows the inevitable rejection letter is part of the process. And for those of us who don't cower under the scrutiny of qualified professionals and run screeching with terror into the whore-ish arms of Amazon's self-publishing world, it can get pretty damn discouraging. As I recently wrote, I went through a dry spell where literally nothing I was sending out was getting published. Scroll to the earlier part of this year to see my posts on that topic. I was ready to stop.

However, I have published two short stories this year, marking something of a "return" for me. That doesn't mean there haven't been rejections, though. Unless a writer is on the level of being able to sell copies via name recognition, rejections tend to outnumber acceptances. But sometimes they're not so bad, and other times they're downright encouraging. Take the one below for example:

"Unfortunately, we are not able to include your story in the anthology. Our intention with the theme had always been to publish stories that had something to do with the sky. We received a large number of submissions, such as yours, that took the theme figuratively rather then literally. For a time, we considered changing our original plan to include some of these, but eventually decided to stay true to the initial theme. That said, your story was enjoyable and, if we have an upcoming collection that I feel it may fit, I'll get in touch."


I'm fine with that. Yes, it's disappointing as this is a story I've been trying to place somewhere for a few years, but the positive response means there is a possible home for it after all. And if the publisher finds a use for it, even better.

Sometimes it's okay to just have one's work acknowledged.