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3 Comments

  1. Catherine Krahe
    April 13, 2011 @ 8:07 pm

    I’d like to pull up a comment from Jenna on our Hooking the Reader post:

    ***
    Congratz to all, not just the people who were accepted, but EVERYBODY who applied. I mean, we all wrote application stories with a beginning, a middle, and an end (which is no small feat); we sent them in on time; and went through an agonizingly long waiting period. So, whatever happens, just know, WE DID IT!
    ***

    My first rejection– for the first short story I ever wrote, which happened basically immediately after I realized they could be published and how to go about it– was a copy of the magazine’s guidelines with a single highlighted line. So was my second, though that had a different line highlighted. Eventually, I graduated to actual rejections.

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  2. Meghan
    April 14, 2011 @ 1:49 pm

    This was my first rejection, and- even though I fantasized about Alpha day in and day out, and wrote down the days I would (hopefully) be attending the workshop on EVERY calander I own- to be honest, my reaction to the rejection letter surprized me. I’ll admit it, I teared up a bit…but I feel like I’ve been given a challenge.
    I immediately went back to my story and forced myself to read it again (prompting many strange glances from my mother as I grumbled to myself and slammed my hand into my face at the discovery of many blatant mistakes),I make myself write something every day, and I have added short stories to my summer reading list.
    With every book I read, I can feel the urge to write grow inside of me. Words echo in my head as characters press against my skull and landscapes flicker in my vision, impatiently waiting for me to share their stories with the world. Something so spectacular can only be described as the call of a writer- an urge so strong it cannot be ignored.

    I see this rejection as a second chance; a slap to the face from a gauntlet-clothed hand, voicing a challenge I simply cannot, and WILL NOT leave unanswered. 😉

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  3. Noella
    April 15, 2011 @ 7:05 pm

    I feel the same way Meghan, although I haven’t really had the time to go back and revise my story. Giving up would be giving in.

    Which is why rejection is only the catalyst the process of becoming a good writer.

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