poetically challenged

About 10 days ago, I had been commenting in my journal that there were several magazines that have not yet replied to my submissions, and that the time to start hearing responses was probably at hand.  Since then, I got three responses, all rejections.  Funny how that works out.

Today as I was writing in my journal, I commented that it is alright — I prefer timely responses, even if the news I hear isn’t what I would have preferred.  

I didn’t realize I’d grown so thick-skinned!

Three rejections this week.  Two of ‘em on the same day.

But still, I feel like they were all good responses.  All three invited me to send more submissions, two saying that what I sent just didn’t fit the needs at this moment.  The other said that they liked several of the poems I submitted, but would like to see some tightening of the language.  Not all bad, I guess.

I need to get the new lot sent out.  

How are your submissions going?

There’s a website, the Rejection Collection, that encourages poets and writers to “laugh in the face of rejection.”   Stop in — it is a great relief to those of us who regularly receive rejection letters.

Maybe I’ll see you there!

But it is nice to receive those that take careful care to be polite.  I got one from American Tanka today.  Not only did it go through the polite form rejection (a variation on “Not to say it’s bad, you know, but just not what we need at the moment”), but they apologized twice for taking so long to reply.  It was 5 months, which is longer than what they usually take, but still not especially long in the industry overall.

It is nice when the rejection letters show a little extra effort at courtesy, isn’t it?