On every agent/editor blog or website I see lately, they post a disclaimer that if you don't hear from them, consider yourself rejected. Whatever happened to the rejection letters sent in the mail?
I remember going to a presentation by author Shannon Hale a few years ago where she talked to teachers in Jordan School District. She showed off her rejection letters, yards and yards of letters that she'd laminated together into one long row of papers.
Stephen King, in his book On Writing, talks about how he used to post his rejections on his wall until he ran out of room and had to find something larger to hold them all.
Am I going to miss out on this particular right of passage? I'm pragmatic enough that I expect rejection. But I was really looking forward to celebrating my first rejection letter. Am I out of luck? I guess I'll have to find another reason to celebrate.
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2 weeks ago
5 comments:
Hi! Found your blog through your comment on Elana Johnson's blog. I love that you're looking forward to rejection - a healthy dose of positivity will go such a long way! I'm not at the submission stage yet myself, but I, too, wonder about the trend of not even giving someone a rejection letter. Hmm...
Yeah, you totally need the rejection letters. When I got my agent, my husband took them to his school and showed them to his students. He said, "This is what you get when you try something. Rejection. But then, you'll get to savor the reward later."
So yeah. I think you are missing out on something. But don't worry. I have hundreds of them. You can have some of mine!!
Hey, I'm really enjoying your blog. Full of wisdomosity. Now I just need to link it to mine so I know when yours is updated. Also, on a totally different note: you were in my dreams two weeks ago--you had just found out the Vermont Program wasn't ten days in the summer, but ten years. And do you know what? You were still going to do it!
Maybe agents and editors who don't have blogs will send you paper rejection letters. Maybe you should research agents/editors who don't have an online presence and send your work to them.
By the way, I just read your 25 words on Miss Snark's blog and you know I love them. I think some of the random people who made comments need to shut their mouths. Wait until you get help from a real, published author. It will be much more useful than commments from wanna-be writers. (And you are NOT a wanna-be...neither am I...)
Hopefully manners will make a comeback. It seems a bit like going on a bad date and just never hearing back again.
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