During a decluttering session last week, I came across these
cartoons that I drew way back in 1990 for the long-departed Writers’ Monthly
magazine.
It occurred to me that they just wouldn’t work today because writers
no longer collect piles of rejection slips – at least, not the paper ones.
Our books, stories and articles are still turned down by
editors and publishers of course, but the bad news is more likely to be
delivered by email than Royal Mail. Many smaller publishers, online magazines
and websites don’t even bother to send any kind of rejection. They simply say that
if they don’t contact you within 'x' number of weeks or months you can assume
your submission has been unsuccessful.
There are some writing traditions I’m glad to have left
behind – typewriters for example – but I wish now that I’d kept all my old
rejection slips. I did have a cardboard folder full of them at one time. I
tried to see them as a record of my progress rather than proof of failure.
For example, my first rejection from one magazine was an unsigned,
Xeroxed slip of paper. The next one was the same, but with the addition of
someone’s scribbled initials. My third or fourth was signed on
behalf of the editor, and then - oh, joy! - I received one not only signed in person by the editor,
but with a handwritten sentence added saying something like my story was nicely
written but not quite good enough. It was still a flat rejection, but knowing
that my work had at last reached as far as the editor’s desk made me even more
determined to keep trying.
These days, I do keep ‘encouraging’ rejections for a while – those where
someone has taken the time and trouble to explain the reason for rejection –
but a standard ‘Thanks, but no thanks’ email is usually deleted straight away.
How about you? Do you keep your rejections? Do they depress
you, or spur you on?
PS I’ve just noticed some other things that make these
cartoons quaintly old-fashioned. Visits in person to the tax office are almost
unheard of now, and the amount I spend on postage in the course of a year’s
writing is hardly worth claiming as a business expense.
PPS As useful as rejection slips can be, an acceptance is
always better. Very pleased to report that the first few stories I’ve submitted
to
Alfie Dog Fiction for my story collection have
not been rejected!
