Getting Your Writing Rejected
by Grey…
In The Honest And Hearty Words Of One Of The Most Inspiring Movies, “Adult World,” I Must Say To Myself “I Will Suffer Through This!”
It’s A True Victory Surviving Your Rejection Letters And Your Published Content. One Too Many Have Fallen By Their Idol Wings And One Too Many Have Given Up At The Fear Of No Success And Recognition. The Worst Part Is That It Is In Fact Possible To Be Plagued By This Cycle That Almost Every Writer Must Endure. I Mean I’m Pretty Sure You’ve Noticed The Lack Of Hemingway’ And Plath’s Among Us! Many Of Us Just Don’t Make It Past The Prologues Of Our Lives.
But This Isn’t About Suicidal Writers! I Was Just Trying To Paint A Picture Of The Struggles One Faces As One. It’s A Very Complicated Medium. There Are Many Rules To Writing, It’s Very Hard To Not Apply Commas And Recitatives. You’ve Got To Follow Them — At Least That’s What We’re Told. But I And Many Other Writers Seem To Vibrate On A Frequency More Complex Than Punctuation And Correct Narrative.
And As A Natural Response To This We Are Rejected By The Ivy Leagues And College Graduates Who Work At The Post Or The New York Times. Because Unfortunately It’s Not Always About What You Said… It’s About How You Said It And How It Was Written! Not Many Heart Strings To Pull On Of The People Who Have Heard Practically Every Story Said The Best Way Possible By Someone Else Before You. A War Of Words! Will You Say It Better…Or Will You Say It Best?
Of Course The Literary World Isn’t Always That Cut Throat And Vigorous. We Don’t All Have To Be Brilliant. But We Do Have To Push Ourselves Far Enough That People See Whatever You’ve Written As An Almost New Idea In Its Entirety. It’s Almost Like You Must Give Birth To A Star Amongst The Planets. There Are Trillions Of Stars But Fewer Planets I’d Like To Believe, Though Science May Correct Me! And For You To Make Some Glitter Amongst The Rocks You Must Validate Your Entire Existence And Life As A Writer. Right?
Well I’m Not Completely Sure. Since I’ve Been Writing And Submitting Poems And Short Anecdotes I’ve Seen A Great Side Of Myself, A Side Of Myself That Is Most Charming. In This Dance, In This Courtship, I Lead. All Of These Publications Are Nothing But Addresses To Me In The Beginning. I Validate Their Existence Once They Validate Mine. Then We Can Both Fall Aimlessly In Love With Each Other. I’m Writing Love Letters To These People And Sometimes I May Not Be Their Type And I Shall Be Rejected. But Rejection Is Not A Sign Pointing You Towards Throwing Your Pens And Notepads Into Oncoming Traffic. On The Contrary, Rejection Letters Symbolize The Fact That You Weren’t Afraid To Try! So Why Might One So Fearless Then Tuck Their Tail Between Their Legs And Beat Their Own Hands With A Ruler? Well, It Can Hurt Quite A Bit.
As I Recall My First Rejection Letter I Actually Had To Pry For. It’s Funny Now Looking Back Because The Poem I Wrote Was Depressing And Absolute Shit! But At The Time I Thought That It Was Worthy Of Note, So I Submitted It To An Independent Magazine Based In The UK. Mind You This Was The First Time I Had Ever Submitted Something To Anyone Other Than My Language Arts Teacher. I Waited For Almost A Month To Hear Back From This Magazine And Nothing! So I Took It Upon Myself To Ask If My Poem Had Been Received And If It Was Accepted To Be Featured. The Woman Who Ran The Magazine Quickly Responded To Me With The Most Cryptic Word In This Profession… “Unfortunately”!
And Instead Of Me Getting Sad, I Shook My Fist In The Air And Started Again On Another Sheet Of Paper. I Started My Own Little Zine So Others Could Share Their Work With The World And Although I’m Now Pushing The Magazine In A Different Direction. I’m So Delighted With The Way I Started It, Very Inclusively. And If You Were To Submit A Piece To The Magazine Then You Know How I Respond To Your Emails. They Read A Little Something Like This:
“Greetings And Salutations,
Thank You So Very Much For Submitting Your Amazing Work! Unfortunately We Have No Choice But To Accept This Totally Brilliant Masterpiece!!”
Rejection Letters Are Not The Best Part Of Being A Writer But They Sure Aren’t The Worst. They Say That It’s A Good Thing To Fail Over And Over Again. So Let’s Bust Our Balls And Fall Down Hills Together, My Friends! For The Day We Receive A Love Letter In Return Will Be The Most Glorious Day But Also A Day We Shan’t Live Again With The Same Exact Vitality!
In This Life Of Proper Slick Talkers And Shit Talkers We Think We’ve Got To Be The Smartest Or Most Analytical. I Don’t Think That Is The Case At All. I Think That The Most Exceptional Writers Are The Ones With A Little Bit Of Blood On The Page. Write What You Feel And Don’t Let Anyone’s Asinine Opinions Detour Your Literary Adventures!
