What to do with all those rejection slips and letters

I keep mine in a nice tidy file..... for 2 reasons, actually. One is to know who ive contacted, and also to remeber who told me to BUGGER OFFF when i become famous.....

send them to me, they'll be worth a fortune some day.

I say bin 'em. The only reason I haven't hit DELETE on my email folder of rejections is because I'm too damned lazy.

I have no interest in waving them in anyone's face or thumbing my nose at the people who said no. Because the "No's" were on novels that obviously weren't ready. Those agents didn't turn down me, they turned down books that weren't saleable. And looking back, I agree with them.

Use them to line the kitty litter tray

I've only gotten two rejection letters (email), so I've kept them. They were/are probably the nicest rejection letters I'm ever going to get, so why not? Also, they have a copy of the piece I submitted in the body, so it's nice to have another copy of the work.

I'd keep the encouraging ones, frame the nastiest as motivation, and chuck the rest. Or maybe recycle them into scrap paper or something, then toss them.

ETA: I should add, by the way, that I've not gotten any acceptances as of yet.

scarletpeaches said:

That, and, "The best revenge is to live a good life."

Click to expand...

Amen.

Sorry, I'm bitter and will continue to be that way for some time...... at least I have a goal.....

I mentioned on another thread that a friend of mine thought about having a bar hangout in Hollywood called The Rejection Room where writers could post their rejections on the walls.

Never happened. Still a good idea. Perhaps even for a sitcom.

Most of mine are emailed. I put them in a rejections folder, in case I need the information later. I'll get around to clearing out the old ones eventually.

I'm keeping my first paper rejection. The rest, probably only if they say something unusual.

I save them all. I plan to wallpaper a bathroom with them, maybe more than one, when I'm hugely successful. Not for nose thumbing, but as both a humorous reminder that not everyone is always right and you've come a long way, baby.

Actually, the best reason to save them is that if you are audited, you can prove to the IRS that you are actively pursuing paid writing opportunities and thus are entitled to various deductions related to the cost of launching your writing career.

I'm actually using them (and a gallon bucket of glue) to craft a pinata in the shape of an agent.

I used to keep them all.

That was back when I was 16.

If I was STILL keeping my rejections, I'd be swimming in them.

I was gonna print them out and stick em in a binder for posterity's sake so that, when I become a global phenomenon, I can open the binder and reminisce on the long journey I took. Also, I figure that, once I do achieve global success, I can pad my already massive income by selling autographed copies of my rejection slips on Ebay for several thousand dollars.

When life hands you lemons kinda thing =)

I keep them for the same reason I kept all of my 5th, 6th, 7th, and 8th place ribbons when I was showing horses: Because when I finally got that Champion ribbon, it sure as hell looked badass next to all of those "not quite, sorry" ribbons that were cowering in fear next to it.

Before I finally made it to the top, those ribbons were all I had to show that I'd at least gone into the ring and DONE something. When I made it, they served to remind me of just how much I had to work to GET to where I needed to be.

Right now, I have precious little in the way of rejection slips because I haven't submitted much. When I accumulate a stack of rejection slips, that will mean I'm worlds ahead of where I am right now. And when I finally publish something, I will pile all of the rejection slips on the floor, put my book on top of it, and take a picture.

But then, I'm one of those people who thinks success is that much sweeter when it's mounted on a pedestal of past failures...so I don't shun my past failures.

Oddly sentimental, maybe. But that's my take on it.

I collect 'em and keep 'em just as I would keep any other paperwork related to my business. I guess it's the cognitive therapist in me, but I have no emotion attached to them one way or another. I sell in a decent proportion to my rejections, so to me they're just a cost of doing business so to speak. They get filed in the appropriate file if they're paper or in a Gmail folder if they come online. Out of sight, out of mind.

I have a expanding file in which I keep all correspondence related to each story or novel, rejection, acceptance, contract, whatever. I don't mind the rejections -- they prove to me, as well as to the IRS, that I really am a working writer: I'm out there, baby.

I keep them, but it's starting to get sad. I was tender, then I grew armor plating, and now it's eroding with time and accumulated precipitation.

I'll be a skeleton soon.

I suppose if I get one someday, I'll probably frame it.

Hello?!! I was KIDDING people!!

You can come back to the thread now.