The recent short story I’ve been shopping around got another rejection this week (the 8th I think).
This one was different…
This was NOT a form email! It was a written email from the editor who gave it a read.
I want to cut and paste it here, but I feel that’s not really a cool thing to do IMHO. I’ll just say that the criticism was constructive, intelligent and thought provoking. I’m still deciding whether or not I agree with every point. If I was to be honest however, most are dead on and I’m learning something from them.
So why is this awesome?
Someone decided that my writing was good enough to take the time and give me pointers.
Rejections come and go, and I aim to gather as many as possible because I’m aiming to send my work out there to be published. I have dozens of form emails now and the sting is pretty much gone. A rejection in my inbox makes me shrug and move on. It’s another point in my favor. Every one of them means I finished something, conquered my fear and sent it out.
Still…form letters don’t really give you any gauge of how you stack up as a writer other than “this work isn’t for us”.
When you get comments from an editor or a reader here’s what it means:
– Your work stood out from the slush pile
– Your work has enough potential to draw attention
– Your work has enough potential for that person to want to take the time (out of the little they have) to give you comments so you can improve and get over the line to where you get paid for your writing.
It means YOU ARE ALMOST THERE and the comments translate to “HERE’S HOW YOU CAN GET TO THAT FINISH LINE”
It’s exciting.
It’s one step closer to being a published writer.
The Basement Office 