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Rejection


I’ve been talking to my friend Steve about rejection.  You see, the constant stream of rejection letters for someone trying his damnedest to be heard is felt by both editors and authors.  Mostly authors.

Steve has a blog, Sects and Violence in the Ancient World, that used to get nearly a thousand hits a day.  Now he barely gets a hundred.  Perhaps the world of the internet has already grown weary of what he has to say.

For my part, every few months I get brave and lob three or four stories to literary magazines and sit back to wait for the rejection letters to roll in.  I’ve had six short stories published.  All but two were first rejected before someone else saw a little value or entertainment in them.

I’m told that writers must have thick skin.  I also know that I put an awful lot of myself into my stories.  Yes, rejection is personal.  It can be nothing else.

Even Vagabondage Press, who will be publishing my Passion of the Titans novel this fall, emailed to say it will be an ebook only.  Nothing personal.  The economy makes printing too expensive.  Especially for those whose voices can’t be heard.  A part of me died with that email.

I know that very few will ever read this blog.  Fewer than those who read my stories.  One thing is certain: my protagonists are always the rejected.  It is uncomfortable because our common lie, deeply held, is this—if you try you will success.  You only fail when you fail to try.

Believe that if you will.  I am a writer and I know the truth.


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