A new year, a new rejection.  Not as catchy as a new dawn, a new day, is it?

I’m still trying to decide if this rejection is a form or a touch personal.  I tried finding other rejection letters online, but couldn’t.  Here’s to hoping 2014 brings me at least one acceptance letter.

Rejection Letter #36 – Writing Tomorrow Magazine

Dear Gabrielle Olexa,

Thank you for sending us “Jenny Kissed Me.” I appreciate your patience while we read and reread your work. It was a very hard decision, and ultimately, we’re going to pass on this round, but we sincerely look forward to considering your next submission.

Thanks again. Best of luck with your work.

Kindest Regards,

Miranda Kopp Filek
Editor, Writing Tomorrow

345 days after submitting “Jenny Kissed Me” to Granta Magazine, I finally got a response, just not the one I wanted.

Rejection Letter #35 – Granta Magazine

Dear Gabrielle Olexa

Thank you for giving us the opportunity to consider ‘Jenny Kissed Me’. Unfortunately, this particular piece is not right for the magazine.

We wish you the best of luck with your writing.

Yours sincerely,
Granta Magazine

I guess that part about me saying you wouldn’t hear from me for a while was a lie.  I took this rejection harder than most, but tomorrow is another day.  Three other literary magazines have this piece.  Maybe one of them will bite.

Rejection Letter #34 – McSweeney’s Quarterly Concern

Dear Gabrielle,

Thank you for sending us “Jenny of Lebanon.” We rely on submissions like yours, since a good portion of what we publish comes to us unsolicited. Unfortunately, we can’t find a place for this piece in our next few issues. But please feel free to submit again in the future. Our tastes and needs continuously change.

Thanks again for your efforts, and for letting us see your work.

Sincerely,

McSweeney’s Quarterly Concern

At least they waited until after my birthday to tell me.  There’s that, at least.  It may be a while before #34 shows up.  There’s no indication that the other magazines  I’ve submitted to are currently rejecting or accepting anyone at great speeds.  So, it may be a while until you hear from me again.

Rejection Letter #33 – The Kenyon Review

Dear Gabrielle Olexa,

Thank you for submitting your work “Jenny Kissed Me.” We regret that we are unable to publish it.

Your work has received careful consideration. Unfortunately, the large number of submissions prevents us from commenting on many worthy manuscripts.

We very much appreciate your interest in The Kenyon Review.

The Editors

There’s not a whole lot to say at this point.  Found this waiting for me after taking Meili, our dog, on a late night stroll.

Rejection Letter #32 – Mikrokosmos Literary Journal (MOJO)

Dear Gabrielle,

Thank you for sending us “Jenny Kissed Me.” We appreciate the chance to read it. Unfortunately, the piece is not right for us.

Sincerely,

The Editors of mojo

This came on Tuesday.

It’s short, to the point, and they were fast about it.

I’m really close to burning “Jenny Kissed Me” and spreading her ashes in my backyard.

Rejection Letter #31 – The Massachusetts Review

Dear Writer:

Though your work has been declined by our editors, we thank you for allowing us to consider it.

Sincerely,

The Editors of The Massachusetts Review

Monday.  Rejection.  Bleh.

At least I didn’t have to wait very long for it.  I always like it when people are quick to tell you what they’ve decided, even if it’s bad news.  I’m sad, though, that another opportunity for “Jenny of Lebanon” has fallen through the cracks.

Rejection Letter #30 – Colorado Review

Dear Gabrielle Olexa,

Thank you for sending us “Jenny of Lebanon.” We’re sorry we can’t use it, but we appreciate having the opportunity to consider it.

Sincerely,
The Editors
Colorado Review

I almost have the same amount of rejection letters as I am old.  Just two to go.  Nearly three.

I received this one two days ago.  Honestly, it didn’t bother me.  I had given up on it a long, long time ago.  I submitted “Jenny Kissed Me” to The Lifted Brow on December 1oth, 2012.  I had queried, too, in June or July, I can’t remember, but this was the first I had heard from them.  I’m not entirely sure what took them so long.  From what I can tell, I don’t think they were reading any submissions for the last several months, and thus were rejecting no one, including little ole’ me, until just recently.   I’m just glad that they let me know, even if it did take close to a year.  And they were polite and apologized for that.  If I ever write another story that I think they’ll like, I’ll give them another go.

Onward and upward, as they say . . .

Rejection Letter #29 – The Lifted Brow

Dear Gabrielle,

Sincerest apologies for the delayed response.

Thank you very much for your fiction submission to The Lifted Brow. It means a lot to us that you think of the Brow as somewhere you’d like to see your work published.

Unfortunately we’re not able to use your work in the magazine in this instance.

Reading the magazine is the best way to figure out what kind of fiction we like to publish, so if you’re not a subscriber, maybe have a think about becoming one.

Thanks again for taking the time to submit.

It’s a good thing I’m pregnant or else by now I would have turned to the bottle.

Okay, that is somewhat of an exaggeration.  I don’t think I could ever get that depressed, at least not over rejection letters for stories that I wrote in my free time.  If my stories were my only means of survival, then yes, I could very well see myself caressing a bottle of whatever I had handy to help soothe the sting of rejection.  Going through this experience, though, I totally understand why the writers of old had a vice to quell the demons of failure/rejection, whether it was alcohol or drugs or some combination of the two.  I’m hoping that I never, ever reach that point.  Please, someone, slap me upside the head if I even get close.

So today’s rejection letter is my first personal rejection letter.  The one rejection from Carve Magazine was kind of like a personal rejection letter, but this one goes into far more detail.  They had a lot of nice things to say about “Jenny Kissed Me” and I understand the issues they had with it to some extent, why the ultimately said, “Thank you, but no thank you.”  I am going to try and take their criticism, along with what the editors from Carve had to say, and make this story better.  I’m not sure if it means I have to make the story a little longer or if I have to flesh out some of the scenes to make it “stronger”.   I guess I’ll figure it out in time.  I just need to sit down with her, maybe take her to a workshop, and pull her corset strings a little tighter.  The only thing I know for sure is that one day, some day, I will find a home for “Jenny Kissed Me”.  It will happen.  I just have to keep trying.

Rejection letters are mini-battles.  Getting published is winning the war.

Oh, the things we say to make ourselves feel better.

Rejection Letter #28 – Fabula Argenta Magazine/Silver Pen

Dear Gabrielle Olexa,

Thank you for sending us “Jenny Kissed Me”. We appreciated the chance to read it. Unfortunately, the piece is not for us.

I found this to be one of the better “relationship” stories that we’ve received (and we do receive a number of those). The premise is interesting, the writing is good, we liked the well-drawn characters, it’s laced with bits of humor, and the piece has a somewhat memorable quality to it. So, it wasn’t an immediate rejection. In the end, though, we didn’t consider it strong enough overall for our magazine.

Our main issue was that the ending was too abrupt and didn’t lead the reader anywhere or to any conclusion as to what might happen next. We also would have like to know more about Jack. We don’t find out until later in the piece that he too is taking classes. He must have a job somewhere. We know more about Jenny than we do about Jack, whose story this is. Also, let us know sooner who the main character is. From the opening, it could be a male or female.

Anyway, thanks for the read. Best of luck with this.

Sincerely,
Rick Taubold
Fabula Argentea Magazine

Last night, I cried.  I cried like a two year old whose favorite toy had been eaten by the family dog.  My Braves lost.  And I’m not speaking figuratively, either.  I literally cried.  That story about there being no crying in baseball is a lie.  True fans cry.  I do at least.  People think I’m crazy, but I don’t care.  It’s one of the few things in life I really enjoy.  Baseball makes me happy, except for when it makes me sad.

So, when I woke up this morning, my eyes still puffy, I was especially sad to see that I had another rejection letter waiting for me.

And then I saw that it was raining outside and that it was cold.  Then end of baseball really does mean winter is upon us.

I read the letter several times.  It was more or less a standard form rejection letter, but since I asked for some comments, they were kind enough to give me some.  I’m still deciding on how to take them and make my story better.  I debated about sharing them here, but I figured I’ve already posted my other failures in such great detail, that it would just seem silly if I removed them.   I like full disclosure.

Rejection Letter #27 – Carve Magazine

Gabrielle,

Thank you for sending us “Jenny Kissed Me” to Carve magazine. We regret to inform you it was not chosen for publication in an upcoming issue. Editorial decisions are often subjective, so we hope you’ll continue writing and submitting. When your story finds a home, we’d like to know so we can send you congratulations.

We’d like you to know that overall, your story was well-received by our reading committee, and they have some comments and notes on your story. We hope you find them helpful as you continue to revise or resubmit your piece elsewhere.

–COMMENTS–
**some strong moments, but prose isn’t entirely assured.
**author handled male POV well.
**not compelling. Story feels underdeveloped/missing depth.

Warm regards,

Editor and Staff

I submitted to slew of others in the last week, and I need to print out “Jenny of Lebanon” so I can send her to two other places that don’t accept manuscripts electronically.

Here’s to hoping that one day I’ll get to title a post Acceptance Letter # 1.  Until then, I’ll keep trying.  Gotta write more, too, but I’ve got so much on my plate right now.  Life.  There is never a dull moment.  Those who tell you differently are lying.