More On Memoir Fraudulence

There's a very good salon.com assessment of the most recent memoir fraud (fraudior?) by Lev Raphael called "The Holocaust Memoir So Heartwarming it Had to be Fake." My favorite part is the opening Edith Wharton quote about how Americans demand "a tragedy with a happy ending."  So true!  The analysis is worth taking a click on over there.

Appel Words of Wisdom: Part I

I very much enjoyed Jacob M. Appel's intelligent article in Poets & Writers entitled "The Case for Contests." Unfortunately the article is not online, so as a labor of love, I have typed out some highlights and excerpts and posted them here:

"I confess I enjoy paying fees to enter writing contests.  One of the decadent pleasures of my week is cuddling up with my checkbook on Friday afternoon and doling out my meager earnings to literary journals in ten-and fifteen-dollar increments.  I have been entering fiction contests relentlessly, if not compulsively, for the better part of two decades--and over time.  I have garnered my modest share of first-place finishes and an even greater number of honorable mentions....I have also lost my share of contests--hundreds of them, possibly thousands--including many to which I have submitted my work, years after year, since my college days  So as a battle-scarred veteran of the contest circuit, nothing disturbs me more than those naysayer who chronically deride participation in these literary competitions, which I continue to believe present one of the most rewarding and fair opportunities available to emerging writers.

"The critique often goes something like this: In no other creative enterprise are aspiring artists expected to fork over money for an opportunity to have their work considered by a self-perpetuating band of aesthetic gatekeepers.  Up-and-coming composers don't send their original scores to the Boston Pops with entry fees enclosed.  Including a money order or certified check will not convince the New Yorker to publish your political cartoons.  So what right do literary journals have in asking young writers--many of whom can hardly pay their rent or feed their pets--to dish out hard cash for the mere chance of publication?

....

"The greatest selling point for contests is that they level the playing field in two distinct ways.  First, in all but a few competitions, they offer each contestant an assessment of the work by a judge who does not know the author's identity.  To paraphrase the caption of the celebrated Peter Steiner cartoon, "On the Internet, nobody knows you're a dog," in the submission pool of literary contests, nobody knows you're not Alice Munro or Joyce Carol Oates.

        ....

"Occasionally I am asked--usually by a student--if there's a trick to winning writing contests.  After all, the names of the same emerging writers appear frequently on the list of winners of various contests, suggesting that these individuals must be doing something right.  Most likely, I imagine, they are writing good poems and stories that deserve to receive accolades and inquiries from agents.  At the same time, I do believe there are a few rules of thumb that increase the one's odds to taking a bow in the winner's circle.  My best advice is that one should submit to contests early and often.  The benefit of submitting early is that many competitions read and evaluate the work as it arrives, yet most of the submissions show up within days of the final deadline.  For these competitions, the advantage of submitting at the first opportunity is a well-considered and thorough read by a judge who is not yet downing in entries.  The reason for submitting often is that tastes differ widely and a story or poem that appeals to one judge may not suit the appetite of another."

Stay tuned for more excerpted appearls tomorrow.

No Joy Form Rejection

To start the new year right, here's a no-joy form rejection from the literary agent Joy Harris. That's really no frills...not even a signature, or single person's name.  It's as if the machinery of the JHLA read and rejected your work.

He Even Sings

Galleycat has a tedious month-by-month year in review of 2008.  So tedious that July 2008 features this video of your friend and mine (plus a bonus song).  That's not really news, is it? Also, is it me, or does he look entirely different in the video than he does in either of his photographs?

Also, on his blog there's a cute picture of twin baby boys.  The caption says: "Darin gave birth to twins, not named Chang and Eng. Shepherd and Beau Strauss were born on October 29th, 2007." Not his wife? Seriously, though, I don't mean to bust on you, DS, you crazily talented guy, who can even pick the guitar and sing.  I'm just joking around to improve all of our senses of humor in 2009.

What's Up For You in 2009? (******Plus Links to 2008 LROD Highlights******)

Above is what The Onion has on its 2009 Resolution Hit List.  How about you?  What are your writerly resolutions for the coming year?  More acceptances, fewer rejections, muscular thighs? A pledge to send all your rejections for posting at LROD? Mine are as follows: 1) resolve all internal conflict about successfully publishing my novel this year, 2) roll as best as I can with all external conflicts that inevitably come up to foil me in the publishing industry, 3) remember that I am a powerful writer, and that I have something important to say, 4) become more patient and remember that it takes as long as it takes, 5) But still strive to have a publishing contract by December 31, 2009.

p.s. This is not to say that I'd turn my nose up at muscular thighs.

2009 Dreaming: Wouldn't It Be Great?

So Writer's Digest has a contest for the best 101 blogs for writers, and I was thinking maybe you all could help get LROD nominated under the "Just for Fun" category, or if we are feeling really cheeky about ourselves, the "Writing Communities" category.  If you're into this idea, you can send an email to writersdig@fwpubs.com with the subject line "101 Best Websites." (The deadline is Jan 1, 2009).  Your email can simply say: "www.literaryrejectionsondisplay.blogspot.com," or you can write a little note about why you love LORD and think it should be nominated.  Or why you hate LROD and why it shouldn't be nominated, if you are that way inclined.  Feel free to be honest.  You know that's what we're all about.

Angel At The Fence--Too Good To Be True

Oh, Herman, Herman, Herman.  How could you think people wouldn't get miffed at this?  Did you think they wouldn't know? "I wanted to bring happiness to people," said Herman Rosenblat, the 79-year-old author of Angel At The Fence, according to the Huffington Post.  "I brought hope to a lot of people.  My motivation was to make good in this world." And yet, when you write a Holocaust memoir about a love story on opposites sides of the barbed-wire fence, and it's based on a lie, it's just never going to turn out well. Berkeley cancelled the book, which was due out on February 3rd, presumably in time for Valentine's Day.  However, the $25 million film adaptation will reportedly move forward.

Oh, Oprah, Oprah, Oprah. Why are we so confused about fact versus fiction? Maybe this will herald a return to the novel.

Sometimes The World Catches Up

Scott Simon's satirical second novel about political corruption in Chicago is called Windy City (Random House, 2008).  The Daily Beast offers an excerpt here (story via Galley Cat).  I guess it's no surprise that after Governor Rod Blagojevich allegedly tried to peddle Obama's senate seat, the book got hot. Good for Simon.  Sometimes the universe cooperates and gives number two a boost, though couldn't the universe have picked someone more obscure to boost?  Oh well, such is life.

The Sad Devaluing of Editors in the Book Industry

This is disturbing.  It's an article from an interesting blog called Holt Uncensored. Here's an excerpt:  "As I recall, the ganging up against editors started in the 1970s, when Michael Korda of Simon & Schuster said that editorial workers should acquire marketing savvy so they’d get out of their ivory towers and stop mumbling about literary values at sales conference. Until then there was at least an attempt to separate Editorial from Sales & Marketing so that acquisition decisions wouldn’t be tainted by commercial concerns. The editors acquired the books independently; they told the marketing people what to sell. Sales and Marketing got to decide how to sell them, but there was no backing-and-forthing, no suggestions made to editors, no intrusion into the editorial process."

What are you doing next year?

Have any after-Christmas plans yet?  How about this little ditty from Amazon, courtesy of the Bookaholic?

Announcing the 2009 Breakthrough Novel Award

The Breakthrough Novel Award brings together talented writers, reviewers and publishing experts to find and develop new voices in fiction. If you're an author with an unpublished novel waiting to be discovered, visit CreateSpace to learn more about the next Breakthrough Novel Award and sign up for regular updates on the contest. Open submissions for manuscripts begin in February 2009.  The grand prize is publication and $25K.

You can read the rules here.

And To All A Good Night

Merry Christmas, Rosemary Ahern.  Merry Christmas Jacob Appel.  Merry Christmas, all you festive, cranky mice.  I hope your wishes come true.

Waiting to Reject You?

Poets & Writers features a cover on the four new young hot agents....who are waiting to reject you.  Two of these four have rejected me in years past, and one has written in to this blog.  

Also regarding this edition of P&W, I received an anonymous note: "Is it worth registering to see Jake Appel's obsequious tribute to writing contests? I suppose it is if you're obsessed with him...............isn't this what you've always wanted, Dr. Rejected? A glimpse inside of the prince of darkess? If he is one man, of course, and not a consortium of desperate graduate students." (I don't find the article.  Do you? If so please send link.) I believe the clever doctor reference has to do with this article.

Things Never to Appear in the New Yorker

Remember the post about Mike Lynch's 27 cartoon rejections and then his rejection from a book about cartoons rejected from the New Yorker?  Well, the book (Rejection Collection) was eventually published, and its author, Matthew Diffee, had this to say about it. Since them, Volume 2: The Cream of the Crap, has been released.  I wonder if Mike Lynch's rejected cartoons made it into that book?  Somehow I think not.

Rejection Saga From Hell

There's an interestingly comprehensive rejection trouncing over at a site called Resumes from Hell (also the name of a much rejected humor book).  The authors (Jon Reed and Rachel Meyers) had a reportedly 0/1,000,000 success ratio, before they gave up and self-published.  There are ten other rejections over there.  Plus you a link to the book (which you can buy at Amazon), reviews, and interviews.

The Rejection Outside Is Frightful

Snow storm!!!!!  LROD is cancelled today due to weather.  (It's like being snowed in under a blanket of rejection, only this time it's cold and wet.)