The Best Rejections

Life of a writer:

Submit, submit, submit, submit, submit, submit, submit–

Oh, look! An email response! [Copy and paste rejection notice]

Submit, submit, submit, submit, submit, submit, submit–

Hey! A couple emails! [A couple copy and paste rejection notices]

Submit x8

Rejections x3

Submit x10

Rejections x4

Well, at least I still got some stuff pending–

Rejections x5

OK, jeez, fine. I’ll keep submitting. Submit x12

Rejections x7… but wait, one of them isn’t a copy and paste notice. It’s a personalized rejection. They liked my story! It was in consideration! Well, that’s nice. It’s no gold medal… it’s like a silver or a bronze…

Acceptance email.

Woohoo! Party time! Here we go! Things are taking off now–

Rejections x7

Jeez, guys, can I celebrate? Well, I better keep submitting.

Submit x12. Rejections x8.

Repeat. Repeat. Sprinkle in a personalized rejection here and there, a dash of acceptances on top. And a hefty amount more of rejections.

That’s how it’s been going, and I have accepted it as the way it must go. In the past year or so, I’ve gotten more rejections with personalized notes, notices that I made it to a second round, was shortlisted, etc. They’re all steps in the right direction. I’ve gotten accepted almost a couple dozen times, and I’ve seen the caliber of publications accepting me increasing.

I’m on the path. I feel like I’m a plane steadily increasing my altitude. These are all signs I’m heading in the right direction. A recent acceptance into my first semi-pro publication was a huge step in the right direction. And then another achievement, (can I call it an achievement?) this one was different. It was a rejection. Well, two of them. But these rejections came with personal notes. And these were from TOP TIER publications.

I started doing the “tiering system” that many others do. Especially with literary publications. I’ve followed other lists, combined a lot of data, and come up with a tiered system for literary publications that accept simultaneous submissions. That way, I can submit a story to 7 different publications, and I won’t be thinking “what if?” if one accepts it and I have to withdraw it from the other ones. Because now I submit a story only to the Tier 1 publications… or only to the Tier 2’s… the Tier 3’s… and so on. (I made up a list of 6 Tiers… I also sometimes let 3 and 4 intermingle and also 5 and 6 are allowed to play together in the yard.)

Before I was sending stories off all willy-nilly (pardon my Frenchie-French) and I realized that if a Tier 6 accepted my story and I had to withdraw it from a Tier 1, I’d be feeling that horrible “what if?” I’m happy to get accepted anywhere, but I am also trying to up my game and take steps higher up the staircase. It’s also been helpful to understand the different levels of notoriety between different publications.

So, when I submitted a short story to Story Magazine and got a response back from them… different from another response on another story that was rejected with the copy-and-paste variety… it was huge. They told me there was much to be admired about my writing, and they didn’t accept it, but my story was heavily considered. It was in the running. It was shortlisted. Whatever terminology you wish to use. From a Tier 1 publication.

I’ve gotten the silver and bronze medals before, but this time it felt like the medal came not from a local or state competition, but from the actual Olympics. When writers get published in Tier 1 publications, it can do so much for them. And I was ON THE DOORSTEP. It’s not a bad feeling at all. (Maybe like 7%) It’s a great feeling. (93%... eh… call it 91%.)

And then it happened again! The Missouri Review, another Tier 1 publication who I had received a copy-and-paste rejection from before… so I know what they look like… I then got the personalized rejection. Once again, I was right there! Almost in the house! On the doorstep! Hand on the screen door handle before the other door was closed! (This metaphor has gotten a little out of hand.) My story got special attention. I was told that my prose was realistic and evocative and that the piece was eye-opening.

They didn’t accept it. But how could I be feeling any less than (89%) thrilled about this? I’ve never been so happy to have been rejected than with these two instances. And it was a different story for each publication. This tells me that I have stories... plural... that are ALMOST ready to be Tier 1. Or maybe these stories are ready to be Tier 1, but it just didn't quite happen with these particular Tier 1's.

I look back at some of my earlier writing, even just a few years ago, I was not here. My writing was not here. My writing has evolved so much, and these types of rejection notices with the personal notes, these show me that I am moving in the right direction.

This has also left me thinking that it is good to get those copy-and-paste rejections. That way, you can clearly see when the email you get turning you down is not of that variety… when it includes a personal note. That is not anything to scoff at. Those mean a lot. So, along with celebrating my successes, I will also celebrate my almost-successes and also my failures. Well, maybe not the failures. I don’t know why I’d celebrate them. But I’m cool with them. And I am very cool with the personalized rejections from the Tier 1’s.

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