Rejection Collection Catch-Up

It's bad enough finding that self-addressed envelope in the mailbox, but now with electronic submissions, I get to be rejected by email too. They keep coming and coming. It means I have to find new markets and toss the stories back out into the world. And now I'll share them with you. Let you share in my rejection. Take some of the sting away.

The first of this group is from the Sewanee Review, rejecting my story "Resting" back in February. I like the third-person reference to the editor here, pretending that he read it and the lackey is only sending you the rejection slip.

Alaska Quarterly Review adds a personal touch by at least touching pen to paper and saying "many thanks" in this rejection of "This Is What He Does" from February.

Extra credit goes to the Georgia Review for using colored paper in the above rejection for "A White Farmhouse" in April.

Apparently my story "Riverside" didn't suit the needs of The Chattahoochee Review, according to this rejection sent in March of this year. But I will feel free to submit again in the future.

I wonder here if the push for me to purchase a subscription, or at least back issues, is to tell me that my story "Deeann" was in no way right for Apalachee Review.

And then the electronic ones. Fugue emailed this nice, simple rejection of "Those Afternoons" back in February.

In March, Indiana Review rejected "Coyote in the Valley" and sent this kind email.

And finally, I received this notice of rejection from Sycamore Review in April for "Mechanisms."

In some way, the electronic rejections seem more kind. You can at least imagine someone sat down, typed this out, and hit send. It might not be true, but the rejection mill is less obvious than when they come as heavily copied, hapazardly cut slips of paper stuffed back into my own envelope.

But now, I have to get myself together and package up another bunch of submissions and get them out the door. And try not to take it all personally, right?