Hopeful Rejection

I got my first personalized rejection today -- well, kind of personalized, at least. At the bottom of my rejection letter (form letter) from Weird Tales, one of the editors had written 'Amost, but not quite.'

Which made me feel pretty good, actually.

Euan,
Sounds positive to me. I received one of them not so long ago and about a week later, received a letter from the agent asking me to send it her after i'd done some more revisions. So there is hope yet. Good luck

A hand written note: "Pass on this one, but would be happy to read your other pieces."

Send them something else! Definitely a good sign you've tapped a potential market.

You're almost there. Keep going!

Good luck,
aq

You're very close with that comment. Here are a few from my past in the sci-fi fantasy mags.

"You almost rung our bell."

"You nearly nailed it."

"Very close, a hair off, send something else."

That's a very good sign indeed. Those came from Pandora, Amazing Stories, and Space and Time, which I did
finally nail all three.

Triceratops

That is encouraging Euan. You're close.

I wish those of us who write novels got that kind of personalized feedback. We never know whether a rejecting agent regarded our work as "98% there" or 100% disposable -- or why.

Sounds promising, Euan. Good luck with the next one!

Jen