.ok---here’s a good one. What do you do with your rejection letters? So far I have been saving them in a file with the ms’s name on it. Why though? So I can relive the disappointment? Why not just check the rejection recived box? I use TheWriter’s Market.com’s record keeping’s feature.
Now some have personal notes that I want to keep. But why keep the standard—dear author---ones?
And what about e-query rejections? Do those merit printing out?
So, what do you do?
Shawn
Posted by TheNinthMuse (Member # 1306) on :
I actually haven't submitted anything yet, so nothing's been rejected yet, but I imagine that I would throw away any symbols of my failure except for the personalized ones.
Posted by SiliGurl (Member # 922) on :
I actually keep mine. Not because I want to relive the "NO" but because I'm proud that I had the guts to send something out. They're actually like little white badges of courage... It's hard sending your "baby" out to be slaughtered, even if the payoff (Wow! They bought it!) is so great.
Posted by Kathleen Dalton Woodbury (Member # 59) on :
Well, if you ever get audited by the IRS because you've filed as a writer, those rejection letters will show that you have been seriously pursuing a writing career.
Posted by srhowen (Member # 462) on :
hmmmm---never even thought of that one.
Shawn
Posted by chad_parish (Member # 1155) on :
Every story has its own manila folder. Rejection letters are marked with the date, magazine name AND MAGAZINE'S TURN-AROUND-TIME and filed in the proper manila folder for future reference.
[This message has been edited by chad_parish (edited February 08, 2002).]
Posted by cvgurau (Member # 1345) on :
I'm 18 years old, and I've been writing since I was approximately seven or eight. I've never submitted any written word to any sort of publisher. (I write for the school newspaper, but I don't think that counts.)
Is that wrong? Bad? A mistake? Laziness on my part? A doubt in my ability to write? And so on?
Ever paranoid,
Chris.
Posted by Thought (Member # 111) on :
Actually, I am quite the same way. Ask me in a few days and I'll tell you I'm 20. Been writing since I was in 5th grade. Finally got a few stories finished. The handful of people that have read them love them. All I need to do is go through and correct a few spelling and grammar error then send it off to the publishers. Those minor corrections have taken me since last summer and I still am no more than half way through.
Am I lazy? Yes. Am I dragging my feet? That, and my arms, and my head, and I tied an anchor to me. Am I afraid that I will get rejected? Not really. For me at least it all boils down to being lazy. I could work on polishing the stories off and sending them away... but that is work. Writing, now that is play.
As for what to do with rejection letters. When I get them I plan on keeping each one filed so when the story/book eventually gets published and becomes famous I can taunt those who rejected it.
...
Okay, not really. But I do plan on keeping them.
Just a sadistic
Thought
Posted by writerPTL (Member # 895) on :
Wow, thought, you're pretty sure of yourself . . .
Posted by Kathleen Dalton Woodbury (Member # 59) on :
Chris, no one says you have to send anything you write to a publisher or editor. Trying for publication is entirely up to you.
I attended a writers conference where OSC was the keynote speaker, and I heard him talk about what qualifies someone as a writer. All it takes is to write. It doesn't require that anyone read what you write, much less that anyone pay you for your writing.
A writer writes. If that's enough for you, then that's enough. Don't worry about what is enough for someone else.
Posted by Maccabeus (Member # 1369) on :
I've written a lot, but published only one story, and that to the web. It's a strange type of story, done for a specialty group, and while I was complimented for it it's entirely possible that it was good only for that sort of story.
I'm new here...what, per se, does "junior member" designate?
Posted by greyscale (Member # 1366) on :
Macc, it just means you haven't posted more than like 20 times yet. Theoretically you could just start a thread and put one word per post for a 20-word sentence, and you'd break that 'Junior' label. It doesn't really mean anything. *smiles*
Writing: quite a bit. Attempts at publishing: one. Status: rejected. Did with the rejection slip: posted it on my wall. Why: had nothing better to do with it. *grins* And it's just sort of a cool thing to have. Most of the people I know--including those who write--haven't tried to publish yet. It's like, "Wow, maybe I can do this, maybe I can actually do this." It's a cool feeling. Somebody has acknowledged my writing skills.
Oh, and I've got a few stories on the web--fan fictions for computer games--but I don't really count those, because fanfic is such a niche market and... Well, let's be honest: anyone can put things on the Web nowadays. It doesn't say much that a few people liked my story enough to put it online. I did get some 'fanmail' though, where people e-mailed me and said, "Wow, I like this." That was was very cool.
