This was the formiest form letter I’ve ever received.
Well, not quite. Once, I got a checklist rejection that looked like it had been photocopied eight years earlier from a mimeographed copy. “Dear (my name scrawled here), Thank you for your submission. We regret to say we can’t use it for the following reasons…”
Then followed a dozen reasons why a given submission might not be acceptable. Cheerily for me, only two of the 12 reasons were checked, and neither of them was “You suck.” I was a novice then and found this tawdry little letter offensive. So I threw it in the recycle bin. Oh, how I wish I’d kept it. Now, I’d frame it. It was that grand.
Anyhoo, back to Agent #15. Her formy form letter said what such letters always say. Thank you…not for us…good luck.
I wasn’t expecting a positive response from this agent (so why, I ask myself now, did I send the query? Have I become suddenly masochistic?), so my heart didn’t break when the form letter came. I’m not even surprised that she didn’t like my ten sample pages, which I obediently pasted into the body of my email per the agency’s submission guidelines.
In fact, if an agent ever tells me they like my sample pages and want to see more, I’ll probably pass out from shock. Really? You would? Are you sure?
This is why writers are seen as being rather paranoid and insecure – because we deal with rejection on an almost daily basis. After a while, even if you believe in your writing, you start to wonder if you should, or if maybe you should just check yourself into a rehab center for the severely delusional.
I am a reader (I feel about books the way some people feel about chocolate: yum), a writer (I've written a book, even: The Circle of Seasons: Meeting God in the Church Year), and a mother (of four). So that's what I blog about: reading, writing, and raising my kids.
I recently saw a review on a book called ‘Other People’s Rejection Letters’, http://tinyurl.com/2eufhr7. I thought about getting it for you, but figured you’ve seen enough
- cindy
Hello Kim,
Sarah sent me your blog post and told me I should read it, as I’m getting good at receiving rejections, myself – except mine come as “silence” as in they don’t respond which is my answer that they’ve “rejected me” – sigh. It’s a good thing Jesus told us he’d never leave us or reject us – isn’t it?! Lorita