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Monday, March 24, 2008

Colony of Rejection


Here is a rejection from MacDowell Colony, who's tagline is "Giving Artists Freedom to Create." The thing that stings about this rejection is that I'm a former fellow. About ten years ago, I had a delightful stay. I ate lunches delivered in a little charming basket to my cabin in the woods. I sat by the fire and thought. I wrote and wrote and wrote. I enjoyed a lovely fellowship with my fellow writers. However, now, I fear I have somehow become irrelevant, and this is embarrassing. Someone suggested to me that it's more difficult to get in during the summer session (last time I was there in a cooler season); summer is when all the academic artists apply and get in. I am told summer is when sexual affairs and other non-writing activities are pursued. In the fall, when I was there, we had no time for such matters; we were busy writing. But, anyway, I've always thought of MacDowell as my place, though clearly it does not always think of me as its writer.

5 comments:

Anonymous said...

Sorry, old chap. I know that slings and arrows can hurt.
Ten years is a long time, and every day that passes I see a narowing of what is accepted. You don't fit their criteria. And that criteria has little to do with the quality of your work.

x said...

Must be an age thing.

Anonymous said...

Publishing is getting dumber and dumber. I see this a lot with the younger people in publishing. They don't know anything and don't care to know. It's horribly alarming.

Anonymous said...

I have a term for this phenomenon: the Britneyization of Literature.

Anonymous said...

I like your term.

Unfortunately it seems to be true.