Writers Dealing with Rejection

Okay, so you’ve seen me cram in a revision for a deadline.

And you’ve seen me hold my breath.

So now you get to see my rejection.

Source

I got a cold rejection, no letter, no words of encouragement. I’m guessing my story did not fit their vision for the theme. I get that–I was hoping that by addressing a tangent, I could make a less-rivalled space in the anthology. It wasn’t to be.

So I posted on facebook that I had the rejection and was quickly joined by several other friends who had also been rejected by the same anthology. It was lovely to have a community around me of people in the same boat. However, one unexpected thing came out of the thread.

Rivalries in quality of rejection letter.

Almost accidentally, it became a #MyRejectionIsWorseThanYourRejection. Some of the authors recieved a note that the story was enjoyable but not the right fit. I found out by Submittable update. Others didn’t even find out by email–they happened upon their rejection that hadn’t pinged them.

In the end, it came down to one thing: we all submitted. We all didn’t get through the long run. And that’s okay.

I got my file back, took a look at the story, and started to think about how I could strengthen it. Short story writing does frustrate me because it is often something that needs to be rewritten a lot. It’s not about an outline like a novel. It’s about writing, exploring, returning, and refining.

I’m ready to submit again.

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