I don’t tend to use it. The R word. Reject. Reject. Rejection. For me, it carries a weight of emotion that we could simply do without. Being brave and sending our stories, poems or novels out into the world is hard enough without the probability that the end result will be a big red R. In a previous existence, I was an Admissions Manager at a University where a decision had been taken to change the terminology we used from “reject” to “terminate” – and I always thought that was a retrograde step. “Terminate” carries that sense of an ending but a “not-acceptance” is never the end of the road either for a potential university student or for an aspiring (and often perspiring) writer! My thesaurus suggests a smorgasbord of other choices from “decline” to “avoid” to “cold shoulder” to “brushing off.” They are all much of a muchness. Negative words for a negative thing. But for me, finding a better terminology could do so much to help us reframe how we think about these “not-acceptances”, making it much easier to deal with something (whether we like it or not) which is part and parcel of the writing life.
A note from Carola Huttmann: "I appreciate how hard publishers' non-acceptances are on writers, particularly when they occur repeatedly, but rejections are *never* (or only very rarely) due to poor quality writing. They happen, because the piece is not a 'fit' with the publisher's vision for the particular issue of journal or anthology being commissioned. Also, bear in mind, writing is subjective and taste is personal. Through literarily hundreds of 'non-acceptances' over the years I have come to understand that some simply don't like my style of writing, but don't think it's bad in itself. It's just not what most publishers are looking for. I know this is cold comfort when you feel your work is being unfairly judged but, honestly, it's nothing personal. I accepted that a long time ago. Please keep the faith. Imagine a publisher has a dozen slots to fill, but his call for pieces results in two hundred submissions. What is he/she to do? Difficult decisions have to be made. Some will make writers happy, others will feel dejected. Sadly, that's the name of the game. It's a tough / competitive (publishing) world out there Trust in yourself and your writing, because it's brilliant. A tiny tip: sometimes it helps reading past issues of journals to see what the pieces it publishes 'feel' like. If you can, by all means try to mould your own style to that publication. At the same time, however, please remain true to yourself -- it's who you are and you're a unique and wonderful individual. Write for yourself, not for publication. Keep submitting and if your work is accepted consider it a bonus. You've got this, as they say in American movies :)"
This was a wonderful article and a kind reminder that getting published doesn't need to be THE goal. Thank you! Looking forward to your Glorious Words workshop in February!
A note from Carola Huttmann: "I appreciate how hard publishers' non-acceptances are on writers, particularly when they occur repeatedly, but rejections are *never* (or only very rarely) due to poor quality writing. They happen, because the piece is not a 'fit' with the publisher's vision for the particular issue of journal or anthology being commissioned. Also, bear in mind, writing is subjective and taste is personal. Through literarily hundreds of 'non-acceptances' over the years I have come to understand that some simply don't like my style of writing, but don't think it's bad in itself. It's just not what most publishers are looking for. I know this is cold comfort when you feel your work is being unfairly judged but, honestly, it's nothing personal. I accepted that a long time ago. Please keep the faith. Imagine a publisher has a dozen slots to fill, but his call for pieces results in two hundred submissions. What is he/she to do? Difficult decisions have to be made. Some will make writers happy, others will feel dejected. Sadly, that's the name of the game. It's a tough / competitive (publishing) world out there Trust in yourself and your writing, because it's brilliant. A tiny tip: sometimes it helps reading past issues of journals to see what the pieces it publishes 'feel' like. If you can, by all means try to mould your own style to that publication. At the same time, however, please remain true to yourself -- it's who you are and you're a unique and wonderful individual. Write for yourself, not for publication. Keep submitting and if your work is accepted consider it a bonus. You've got this, as they say in American movies :)"
This was a wonderful article and a kind reminder that getting published doesn't need to be THE goal. Thank you! Looking forward to your Glorious Words workshop in February!
I will be rereading this often. What a great perspective. Thank you, Matt.