Comments on: Oh Yeah, Reject Me Harder

By: asamariabradley.com » Blog Archive » “…I may freely address you as ‘pissmidget’”

Thu, 01 Jul 2010 20:29:18 +0000

[...] plummeted to the lowest low when Monday’s mail brought two rejection letters. Scott, Shira, and Sam have already “barked” on the subject and I don’t have anything to add other than that this [...]

By: bark » “I may freely address you as ‘pissmidget’”

bark » “I may freely address you as ‘pissmidget’” — Sat, 26 Jun 2010 18:18:38 +0000

By: Terrance Owens

Terrance Owens — Fri, 30 Apr 2010 06:38:53 +0000

I go on an overnight drunk and pretend all sorts of inspiring things happen when I opened that envelope but really it just sucks.

By: JaimeRWood

JaimeRWood — Wed, 28 Apr 2010 14:58:33 +0000

I used to use rejections to prompt me to send out more material. I wanted to always have five submissions out at a time, so I would wait and wait to get a rejection so I could send something to a new place. Instead of it being a rejection, the little slips of paper became instructions to keep going. At least in my strange fantasy world.

By: Asa Maria

Asa Maria — Tue, 27 Apr 2010 22:36:47 +0000

I’m okay with rejection letters because it means I’m sending things out. But, there was a week when I was PMSing, stressed, and didn’t have any chocolate or alcohol in the house, and got THREE rejection letters in one batch of mail. That week, I went a little crazy and destroyed all my rejections–not just the three new ones.

I don’t know if this will help, but one of the writers organizations I belong to has different levels of memberships. Once you get your first rejection letter, you move up one level to PRO–meaning you are now a professional writer because you are seriously seeking publication. Doesn’t matter if someone took your submission or not.

By: Laura

Laura — Tue, 27 Apr 2010 19:01:54 +0000

On Saturday, I opened my mailbox to find a rejection letter. But this one had a little note from the editor, encouraging me to keep submitting the piece. I was thrilled. Thrilled by a rejection letter.

I think writers have (or should have) a very different perception of rejection than the normal people do. Because we are in a field where rejection is the norm. I’ve heard statistics (they’re probably all made up, but they seem believable to me) about good writers averaging 42 rejections per acceptance. I don’t know who these good writers are or what defines “good” but I take it as a comfort, knowing that I’m not the only one getting rejected.

On a slightly separate note, I don’t think posting all your rejection letters is necessarily healthy. I used to do that but when I got a full wall of them, I finally got mad, tore them down, and threw them all away. I’m keeping my nice rejection, though. And, of course, I log every rejection I get in a submissions log I keep on my computer, tracking where my stories have been sent.

By: Shira Richman

Shira Richman — Tue, 27 Apr 2010 17:56:23 +0000

It’s a topic we have to continue to address. For us, it’s a way of life.

It’s not just writers, though. My sister is a painter and my brother is a musician and we all like to swap rejection stories. I guess we got too much acceptance from our mom so we all chose to get knocked around.

I love the TV idea. Congratulations, Dude. I like sitting around the rejection campfire with you.