Some Tips on How to Find the Positive in Your Rejection Letters

(photo by Rick Lombardo)


It’s nothing personal. Really. It’s not. Rejection is a big part of the writing process. If you want to be published you better get used to it. Competition is fierce and the slush pile keeps growing. If you’ve ever had the pleasure to read for a literary journal or have served on an editorial board then you know exactly what I’m talking about.

We just wrapped up evaluations for the 10th issue of Newtown Literary and I must say that it pains me to have to decide against a piece. Obviously, every story, essay, and poem cannot make it into every issue, but I know what each writer goes through so the evaluating process can be stressful. I think it has helped me as a writer to know both sides of the fence.

You may want to consider reading for a journal or a magazine to both improve your editorial eye, but also to build more empathy and a thicker skin for dealing with rejection. Since I’ve been on both sides of the fence: reviewing and submitting— I know what is at stake. I’m sensitive to the torment and mental anguish that all writers must deal with. But let me make it perfectly clear, editors go through the same thing. The more we send, the more we review. It doesn’t get easier. We do, however, learn to cope with it. Better I think.

Without giving away any secrets of the sausage-making, I will say that having many eyes looking over and evaluating pieces gives you a better understanding and appreciation for putting together a magazine and a journal. You will also realize that you need more than one champion to tout your work. Think of it this way. You might have piqued the curiosity of an editor, maybe even two, but a majority will have to give the thumbs up before it moves forward. Before you will see it in print.

One of the ways I’ve dealt with rejection is to look for the positive sign. How can that be possible? Well, not all rejections are form letters. I have had the good fortune of some of these “Positive Rejections.” They are not at all the same Form Letter Rejections. Nonetheless, a rejection still hurts. No matter how high you rise in the writing business, there will always be rejection. Since many literary journals now have blind submissions this will only become more prevalent. So much for buddying up with industry people.

The granddaddy of all rejections is the Form Letter. We’ve all had them. There is a hierarchy though. For years I’ve compiled a personal list of all my rejections replete with the names of the editors who have signed off on them. You don’t always get a name, but if one does appear it is a good sign. It probably means that your submission got, at the very least, a second look.

I’m going to share with you 5 Types of Rejections that I’ve catalogued. There are more of course, but this will give you an idea what to expect, and, will give you a silver lining.

1- Form Letter

We've all had to deal with these, but once you get over it, and realize it isn't personal you will begin to embark on a journey called the writing/submitting-publishing process.

2— Editor-in-Chief Signatures

I briefly alluded to this earlier, but you must remember that there are usually more than one editor at a journal. You can also scroll through the masthead to see how many and who are the editors. When you get the E-N-C to sign off, you’ve made some progress. This is the journal to submit to in the future.

3— We Look Forward to Seeing More of Your Work

This is very promising, and not unheard of. It means you are on the right track

4— Came Close

You made the final cut. These are almost heartbreaking because you were practically there. A variety of reasons could’ve kept your story out of the issue, but you also have myriad reasons why you should send back to that journal or magazine.

5— Personal Note

These are golden and to be coveted. You won’t get many of these, but they will become the bulwark of your coffee chatter and the stories you tell over drinks.

My most heralded rejections came from Judith Regan and Roxanne Gay. Some years back, my agent sent a story to Harper Collins that had landed on the desk of Judith Regan. That was a blessing. She even took the time to write a personal note. My novel had promise and they said I was a talented writer, but alas, they felt that my story didn’t neatly fit into a particular genre.

My positive rejection from Roxanne Gay was even juicier. She was with Pank at the time. She really enjoyed my piece “God Bless the Treadmills” and really wanted to publish the piece, but felt my anti-hero needed to be just a pinch meaner. That story has since been published by Euphony a journal published at the University of Chicago. This story will also be in my forthcoming collection "Something Like Bliss."

I highly recommend creating your own Positive Rejection list. It will help you deal with the blues, plus it will provide oodles of valuable clues as to how you might get the green light on your work in the future.

Using Writing Prompts As A Jumpstart To Fuel Your Stories

We can all use a boost, sometimes. If there’s a hurdle to clear, that quick burst of energy comes in very handy. But where does it come from? Do you have some stashed away? Writers aren’t that different from runners in that sense. They both need stamina. They also must practice laps.

Today I’m going to discuss the idea of using writing prompts to jumpstart your stories. Some of us might think of this as being an academic exercise or something better suited for classrooms than for “real” writers. Baloney. I use writing prompts because they work. It gives you perfectly good material to cull from. What you do with it is up to you.

Recently, I’ve found that using writing prompts has taken my material into a new direction. I’ve also linked into a dedicated Wednesday Writing Prompt Group that welcomes all genres and styles. I really look forward to Wednesdays because I get a fresh burst of ideas and writers probably more so than regular pokes need motivation. It can be lonely out there for us keyboard-clackers.

Writing prompts can be used solely as an exercise. No doubt about that. You do run treadmills and go to spin class, right? Why shouldn’t you tighten your prose in a similar fashion? I find it particularly helpful because the use of writing prompts narrows my parameters, sharpens my focus. It’s not that I don’t have an objective when I sit down and write, but the objective is crystal clear with a writing prompt. It helps us stay on track.

Writers need to accept that everything they write shouldn’t necessarily be published. We have big egos so we don’t want to admit that, but it’s true. A good prompt might give us a few pages. That’s gold. Some of us might crank out more and some of us might crank out less. I’d liken this material to stock footage. You never know when you might need it so hang onto it. If you lose it or if the dog scarfs it down, you can always write more.

Here are 5 Types of Writing Prompts that you can add to your arsenal.

1 – Keyword and Themes

Have a Bag of Index Cards marked with Keywords and Themes. Let’s say you pull a card with the word, “door” then you must use the word door in your story. Clear, concrete images usually work best: “door”, “hammer”, “vampire”, “squid”, “window”, but you can spice things up with “brighten”, “fall”, “lofty”, ‘baggage”, “wonky” that will approach the thematic and slightly more esoteric side. A good mix is probably best.

2 – Opening Line

“It was a dark and stormy night.” “The druids huddled in a circle and chanted their great spell.” “Marjorie snuck the candy in her pocket and walked away.” Any type of intro is fine. You can take these stories in any direction. You may not even be fond of these intros, but they gives you starting points.

3 – Last Line

This can be very helpful. In fact, many writers do this for their work. It gives you direction. “They lived happily ever after.” “Pervis frowned at the scar, but decided to live with it.” “Edith tiptoed out with a great big tangerine slice of a grin.”

4 – Topic

First kiss. Scary experience. A memorable sleepover. Any of these will work.

5 – Combining (Theme and Last Line) or (Topic and Keyword) or any Combination

That could be an interesting way to approach it too.


Who benefits from writing prompts? I’d say all writers do, but if you want some specifics, here are 5 categories that can really benefit. You be your own judge if you fall under any of these categories.

1 – Character-driven writers

Now I mean this in its broadest sense. Character-driven writers tend to throw plot out the window if given the chance. Not that plot-driven writers can’t benefit from tightening too.

2 – Those of us With a Gift for the Tangential

Ok so maybe I sometimes fit into this category. I can empathize for sure. If you feel your prose if getting way off track, a keyword or theme can really tighten your focus.

3 – Students

If you’re a student then you might really love this or you might not. I find that students are more receptive to the prompts because they are hungry to produce lots of material.

4 – Writers Who Have ha d Long Lay Off

This can be a major blessing. Writers who are anxious to get back to the notebook or the iPad will benefit from the starting point. For me, reading articles usually prompts me to write, but we all find inspiration from different avenues.

5 – The Unfortunate Souls Suffering From Writer’s Block

You had the masterpiece going gangbusters and then kerflooey, not another word. Crickets. Nobody is asking you to admit to this form of literary kryptonite, but if you have ever been stricken with it then it couldn’t hurt to try a new springboard. Writing prompts have done wonders in this area.


Okay I think that give you an idea. Now it’s you turn to go out and write. Bring a pen!

6 Hints For Putting Together Your Amazing Short Story Collection

You could toss in everything but the kitchen sink. You could sprinkle in a little paprika or cardamom, for flavoring. Then you’d have yourself a nice, big mess. If you’re Pig-Pen, no sweat. For everybody else, no dice. Don’t get me wrong, I like thick books and I cannot lie. But how many doorstoppers and footstools do you need?

Today I’m going to share 6 Easy Steps to help you Put Together Your Amazing Story Collection.

1 – Bring The Curator’s Sharp Eye to The Body of Work

Wait a second! Am I putting together a collection of Short Stories or am I setting up a display case full of Cave Men chasing after Woolly mammoths? The truth is that you have a challenging task ahead. You need to get out of the author’s head and put on the critic’s hat. This is not easy. You gave birth to this collection. You feel that each of your pieces are absolute gems. Each one ritzier than the Hope Diamond. You love them all like your own children (the best ones anyway). The trickier part actually is dealing with the fact that, for the most part, these stories have already been published. They already have the stamp of approval, but you need to fit them into your collection.

What does Francine Prose say about editing? She says something like “putting every word on the trial of its life.” You need to put each of the stories you’re considering on the trial of their lives.

2 – Don’t Be Humble, Grab the Stories that Have Received Awards and Citations

This seems apparent. Nonetheless, it cannot be overlooked. Writers are acutely sensitive beings. They also have lots of doubts. Maybe this has something to do with all the rejection we put up with. Even when we have been awarded something we sometimes wonder if we are deserving. I might have been guilty of this putting together my forthcoming collection. Although, in reality, it was probably just an oversight since I was working with many moving parts. When I was putting together “Something Like Bliss,” I was deliberating over which of my published pieces belonged in my collection. I had what I thought was my full collection, and yet I had left out the story “Shipbreakers” that had both earned my admission into Grad School and placed in the Writer’s Digest Short Story Competition. I had already picked out 17 stories when it occurred to me I was missing “Shipbreakers.” What a goof! A blunder as they say in chess. To leave out a story selected in a competition by a nationally recognized magazine is an egregious oversight.

3 – Look for Themes and Other Connective Tissue

Do you have a bunch of Postal Workers going postal in your stories? Does it seem like that fireflies are not just a one-off, but a reoccurring theme, the beacon of hope, the beacon understanding flickering throughout many of your pieces? Haruki Murakami used earthquakes as his connective tissue in his collection, “After the Quake.” George Saunder’s “Civilwarland in Bad Decline” could be a metaphor for where our culture and country have gone (even way back in 1996), but it is also the title of his collection.

4 – Consider Different Lengths for Your Reader (Really. This is muy importante.)

Master storyteller, Lydia Davis, is especially good at this. She can put out tremendous 6-word-stories and astonish you just the same with near-novela-length works. She’s leans toward the pithier side. This adds shape to your collection, but it also gives a reader, a breather. What? This isn’t AMC or Nick at Night or a Pandora station. Oh no? But, you are competing with them.

5 – Toss In the Monkey Wrench— Shake Up Your Audience with a Shift in Genre

Now I’m not telling you to write some romance, if that’s not your bag. You don’t need to do zombie either. But it sure won’t hurt. Today’s writers need to be nimble. Tomorrow’s writers even more so. There’s a lot of talent out there. A boatload. Show how you stand out. Too many collections have the same style, the same drippy dialogue, settings, and so on. Wait, didn’t you say we need connective tissue? Yeah, you did in #3. Well, my friends, Rules are meant to be broken.

6 – Enlist An Outsider, An Amigo, A Frenemy, The Kook in the Coffee Shop

The 1st suggestion is a really tough one. Not all of us might have that curator’s to make objective choices. We might need to enlist an outsider. This is an old standby. Writers have editors. They even have writing/reading buddies to flip through their stuff. Tolkien had Lewis. Carver had Lish. Ernie had Gertie (or was it Trudy). Who do you have? Get somebody. Quick. Let’m read, let’m gripe, let’m discover the genius, unleashed.