Hi Creatives, In Let Me Tell You What I Mean, Joan Didion shares a series of rejection letters her agent shared with her in 1965 for an essay she wrote. “As you know, we’ve been submitting WHEN DID MUSIC COME THIS WAY? CHILDREN DEAR, WAS IT YESTERDAY? to the magazines, and the following is a list of places where it’s been seen.
Mar 21, 2022·edited Mar 21, 2022Liked by Lindsay Jean Thomson
I still vividly remember the first real rejection (actual, typewritten) letter I received. It was from Little Golden Books, and I had submitted some work to them as an elementary schoolkid in the Philippines with my mom's help. They very kindly suggested I finish school before sending them more of my work. I don't remember whether they even commented on its quality, but the mere fact that they had REPLIED, via airmail, resonated with me and encouraged me to keep writing (which they also did in the letter).
More recently, I keep a couple of rejection emails because they contained solicited critiques (at extra charge -- totally worth it) of a short story and a flash fiction piece. They too were universally kind but honest, and I believe my work has improved as a result -- although I may not be cut out for fiction :-p. The other emails are archived in the Writing folder of my Gmail account. I never received anything as funny as Joan Didion, primarily I think because Editorial staff these days are trained to be polite: "We received [insert large adjective] number of quality submissions and can't accept them all..."
On receiving those Submittable emails, I'm always a little nervous, and experience a brief letdown when rejected, but I've gotten used to them. They are in a way less traumatic than rejections of my academic work (manuscripts or grants) -- those reviewers never pull any punches.
I still vividly remember the first real rejection (actual, typewritten) letter I received. It was from Little Golden Books, and I had submitted some work to them as an elementary schoolkid in the Philippines with my mom's help. They very kindly suggested I finish school before sending them more of my work. I don't remember whether they even commented on its quality, but the mere fact that they had REPLIED, via airmail, resonated with me and encouraged me to keep writing (which they also did in the letter).
More recently, I keep a couple of rejection emails because they contained solicited critiques (at extra charge -- totally worth it) of a short story and a flash fiction piece. They too were universally kind but honest, and I believe my work has improved as a result -- although I may not be cut out for fiction :-p. The other emails are archived in the Writing folder of my Gmail account. I never received anything as funny as Joan Didion, primarily I think because Editorial staff these days are trained to be polite: "We received [insert large adjective] number of quality submissions and can't accept them all..."
On receiving those Submittable emails, I'm always a little nervous, and experience a brief letdown when rejected, but I've gotten used to them. They are in a way less traumatic than rejections of my academic work (manuscripts or grants) -- those reviewers never pull any punches.