A publisher accidentally sent
Susan Messer private notes about a manuscript. Once she recovered from her devastation, she decided to turn the hurtful words into a performance piece entitled, "
Rejection Rhumba." The sound is muffled, but you get the idea.
Hey, thanks for picking up on this and posting. I'll always remember how humiliated I felt when I opened that envelope from the lit mag. I hid it in my office, didn't tell anyone about it. Then, a few days later, still stewing about it, I realized that I hadn't done anything wrong. I'd simply submitted a short story to a magazine. Then the idea for a response began to take shape.
ReplyDeleteWell, over here at LROD we love you.
ReplyDeleteI wonder if this post about an unfortunate incident with some readers at the Virginia Quarterly Review helps explain that sometimes readers and editors just get drunk with meanness: Oopsy VQR
Anyway, you have plenty of company.
Yes to all, and thanks again (that photo of the pumpkin is amazing). And despite it all, some of us persevere. I just had my first novel published (Grand River and Joy from University of Michigan Press), and the painful rejection experiences are way-stops along the path. I hope you won't mind a plug.
ReplyDeletehttp://www.susanmesser.net/grandriver&joy.html
Susan, you are a wonderfuland classy person. What a beautiful way to come back after being knocked down. Best of luck to you and your first novel's success!
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