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Working Through Rejection
Rejection, or, Bitter Defeat
If you have tried to write just about anything at all, and submitted your creative work for publication, you have probably received at least one of these, like I did, for my first picture book manuscript:
Dear Matthew,
Thank you for your interest in XXXX Press and for your patience while we reviewed XXXXXXXXXXX. This is a sweet story, but unfortunately, it does not fit our current publishing program. After careful consideration, we have decided to decline this submission. While we wish we could offer detailed feedback on every manuscript, the volume of submissions we receive prevents us from doing so. That said, we appreciate the opportunity to review your work and wish you all the best with this project.
Sincerely,
You may at first question the sincerity of the “sincerely”. You may take this rejection as a punch in the face. At first, at least, it is normal to do so. It’s your writing, you are proud of it, and you think that it is very good. There might be some confirmation bias there, my ink-stained friend, as you are the one that wrote it, and attempted to release it into the world.
The first time you receive one of these somewhat formulaic letters, it might ruin your day. You might delete the email in rage, or shred the letter while letting…
