Wait, what?
No, really. Getting rejection letters means you're working, that you're writing, editing, and submitting. At least in terms of those seeking traditional publication.
But what are you supposed to do with those rejection letters that swarm in via email and snail mail? That is, after you set it aside and send your piece to a different entity RIGHT AWAY...
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| Courtesy of OCAL, clker.com |
Here are five ideas:
1. Wallpaper a room. Your office would be best, but you can paper any room, even the bathroom. Oo, or maybe a closet. One with an old light bulb that flickers, and a chain to turn it on. Yes, do that!
2. Send them back...rejected. Write your own rejection letter about their rejection letter*. Example:
Dear Agent/Editor, <---Write exactly that if they didn't know your name, but feel free to fill in their names if they were polite enough to check your query for your name
In reference to your rejection letter, submitted January 9, we are currently not taking rejections in this genre. Please check your rejection letter over again and re-submit somewhere that is a better fit. If you'd like to review our rejection guidelines, please see www.rejectthis.com and click on the Rejections tab.
Sincerely,
Author X
3. Make a flip-book. Draw a new image on the bottom of each sheet and glue them together on the top to create a flip-book. Come on, you know you secretly love those things!
4. Make them a different kind of art. Carefully connect the periods to create pictures, then color them in. Submit them to art magazines or have your own juried art show! You could become famous.
5. Put them where you really want to. Use them for kitty litter or to line the bottom of a bird/hamster/guinea pig/you name it cage.
Or you can do what I do and put them in a plastic sleeve in a binder with the acceptance letters. It's a story in itself to flip through there and see my history, and I hope to fill that binder one day (with far more acceptance letters than rejections, of course.)
Share your ideas in the comments!
What's your favorite above? What do you actually do with your rejection letters?
May you find your Muse.
*A moment of seriousness in a post of levity...don't really do number 2, mkay? I will not be responsible for you getting blackballed!
