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Get It?

I’m in that post-euphoria period of receiving the latest round of rejection letters.  As I’ve mentioned before, I go for months without submitting stories for consideration because, unlike all the wisdom promulgated on the web, I have thin skin.  Rejection hurts.  I have to be particularly confident to submit anything.

I know I’m not alone in this.  I know that rejections are often impersonal because huge numbers of submissions are received and K. Marvin Bruce is just another face in a vast, vast crowd.  His writing is weird, if literate (hopefully) and his stories aren’t about what they seem to be about.  It’s nothing personal.

Thinking about the past can be dangerous.  Writing in “the good old days” seemed to be quite different.  In the first place, it was hand-written.  In the second place, there were far fewer places to publish.  In the third place, if an editor liked your stuff, you’d made a publishing colleague, not just a glancing acquaintance.

As I’ve mentioned before, if I find a compatible editor, I try him or her again.  I try until they start rejecting my stories without comment.  Then I move on.  You see, all publishing is about relationships.  Few editors understand that.

My friend Steve is an editor.  He works for a non-fiction, academic publishing house.  He tells me frequently that being an editor is all about relationships.  An editor can’t always choose what s/he likes.  There are boards and delegates and supervisors who weigh in.  Once a piece is accepted, however, an experienced editor knows a relationship has begun.  You never reject the next piece with the “standard reject.”

I can’t recall the number of times my reject of the next piece has been the standard.  I thought we had an understanding!  My writing is an offer of a relationship.  Sure, Ms. Editor, you’re free to reject my subsequent overtures, but at least tell me why!  I even left some electronic money in your virtual tip-jar.  Make an honest man out of me.


An editor may not “get me.”  Even best friends have bad days.  Still, every single face in that crowd has feelings.  A wise editor knows that and offers at least a few words of consolation and encouragement, before moving on to another lover.


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