Chronicling my rejections.

On Monday, I'm gonna go to walmart and find a cute and bright shiny binder for myself, and some of those plastic sheet protectors. I'm going to bind my rejection letters in chronological order. And one day, with luck, I'll be able to also add my first request for a partial/full, and my first offer for representation, and then each rejection letter from the publishers, and then the notes from the editors, and then a copy of my contract.

Wow. I have a feeling it's going to be a long road.

But hey. If I successfully publish a novel, one day I can show this binder to my kids as an example of why they shouldn't give up on their dreams. (Yeah, that wasn't corny as hell...)

I was on the best seller's list for three years in fact.

But then I woke up. I would have gone back to sleep but it was almost 7 and I had to get to work...

DWSTXS said:

Good idea! When you become published, on the best sellers list for a year...send all those rejections back to the agents (along with the clippings showing your place on the NY Times best sellers list and a listing of all your awards etc), and write them a note that says "nyah nah nah na na nahhhhh!"

LOL

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Just make sure you can still read them once the decoupage dries. And make it into book rack for your novel =D

Maryn said:

I hope this doesn't seem too weird. (Come on, you all know I'm just a little "off.") When I finally come up with an adequate hook and send out my queries, I intend to use the rejections, torn into strips, for decoupage.

Maryn, who will log them first--she's weird, not stupid

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lulu.com prints your rejection letters onto toilet paper, but it costs $90. Hello, we're getting REJECTIONS, can we afford $90 butt paper? I know I can't.

DWSTXS said:

I will have all of my cut into 6 in wide strips, then pasted together, end to end, then rolled, and I will have T P enough for a couple years.

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Horray!

Saundra Julian said:

You are all nuts and I love ya!

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If I ever wrote an autobiography, I'd use my rejection letters as the covers, pasted about all willy-nilly.

Queen of Swords said:

I have a folder full of mine. I lugged them from the States to the Middle East, where they sat for three years until I lugged them to Canada. I still can't bring myself to read them again.

Maybe after I've been published I'll soak them in water, spin them in a blender and press them flat to make new paper. Then I'll write nice letters to agents and editors on them.

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I've had 11 rejections. But within 12 hours of sending out the revised query with my first five pages, I've received three partial requests, so I am hoping at least one of them will ultimately lead to an offer! None of my rejections were very interesting--just "dear author" forms mostly. A couple of the agents I equeried addressed me by name, but it was still a form.

TrishD said:

I've seen published (or soon-to-be) writers post some of their rejection letters on their blogs. I wish I had thought of that. I checked the rejecting agent's name off the list, deleted the e-mail, and moved on.

To be honest, I didn't get many rejections... and I hope you don't either!

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I am truly hoping for representation offers to come from my manuscript. But if I receive a no, after mailing out 50 pages, I really hope there are some personalized comments.

TrishD said:

Mine were like that, too. Nothing exciting.

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