Posts Tagged ‘Rejections’

Rejection Tastes Like Chocolate

{ September 24, 2013 @ 9:17 am } · { Writing Process }
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So, the leaves are starting to turn and we are under a frost warning for the night.  School is in full swing, and I have been busy with the usual activities that come with the start of the semester.

And I have also been swarmed with rejection slips.

I spent the start of September bemoaning the fact that I hadn’t heard much from editors over the summer.  Well, they all must have heard me because I have been receiving rejection notes left and right.

Writers go through these stages, I know.  They have a string of good luck and then they have a string of bad luck — at least that has been my experience.  I just have to ride out this period of bad luck.

And what should I do with all these rejection slips?

I don’t keep my rejection slips.  I never did.  Back when I received more rejection slips in the mail, I recorded the rejection (to help keep my records straight), and then threw the slip away.  Now, more rejections come via email.  I record the rejection and then delete the note from my inbox.

I agree with January’s post.  I don’t need reminders of rejections. Instead, I throw a dollar in my rejection jar.  And then I eat chocolate.  Lots and lots of chocolate. But I have been told that since it is dark chocolate, it’s okay.

2011 Firsts

{ January 20, 2011 @ 6:46 pm } · { Acceptances }
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So school has started.  With the start of school comes new faces, new books, new syllabi…I have been teaching for over ten years now, and I still have trouble sleeping the night before I face a brand new class of students.  I’m glad that now I can settle into a life of routine — an imperfect routine, nevertheless, but a routine. 

Besides first days of new classes, I also faced other “firsts” this past week.  I got my first two rejections of the year.  I sent out a lot of submissions this past fall, and only heard back from four journals (two acceptances, two rejections).  So, I guess editors of a few poetry journals must have waited until after the holidays to clean off their desks.

However, I did get some good news in the mail this week.  Because of a mailing mishap, I received my contributor’s copy of Harpur Palate a bit late.  But I have to say that it was worth the wait.  My poem “Ways of Writing About Rust” joined other works by such fine poets as Sara Tracey, Doug Ramspeck (note to self: please pick up a collection by Ramspeck), and Stephanie Kartalopoulos.  While I have not read the prose pieces in this issue, I have to say that the poetry selection was wonderful.