My pet pee today, rejection letters that say “we enjoyed your work but could not reach an editorial consensus” or worse “I wish you luck finding a home for these poems” Luck, sweet jesus was that meant to be nice?
Of course I got a rejection letter with both those things in them today. And it always bothers the beejesus out of me when they make my poems sound like wayward children. Little Mikey was almost good enough for us to adopt but he threw up all over the floor.
I would much rather have, “this doesn’t work for me” or the ever loving "HAVE YOU READ OUR JOURNAL???” Maybe I’m just not a polite girl.
I would say about one out of twenty of the poems I write is stunning/good so here comes the bigger question of what to do with the other 19? I think they hold themselves better in a book than individual print but then you have your best poems sitting in wait land for the next three to six months waiting for someone to adopt them. Little Mikey please sit up straight and stop masterbating.
I am having that problem right now with the American Poetry Review. They don’t want any poetry under consideration elsewhere but don’t respond for 6 months and Carolyn after reading my manuscript wants me to submit there. It could be she is torturing me or maybe its little Mikey.
Yes, I've read this same complaint other places and thought people were whining at the time but now its me lol and also this is the first time in three years that I’ve had to write letters to journals and say ummmm, you’ve had these forever, care to drop me a line, any line.
Okay so I have comes to terms after this entry that 1) I am not polite t 2) I might be a little spoiled and 3) I am not patient (like that was ever a question.)
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4 comments:
Teresa, I know the waiting part is one major piece of suckage, but the best way to cure this ill [and you might not like hearing this] is to write more poems, and forget about the six-month [nine-month, 12-months, in one instance] wait.
I've undergone a spate of ambushing journals for the last year, and believe me, when one starts to lose track [though, of course, not literally] of poems and journals and time passing, then one can let go. And what a lovely surprise it is to get an acceptance letter from a journal you've forgotten about!
So, you know, that's what I think. :-)
Speaking from an editorial point of view. If I send a rejection letter with the note that we could not come to an editorial concensus, it means the poem was discussed at length and carefully considered. Usually our editorial board reaches concensus fairly quickly. We've each been known to fight for a poem, only to have the other editors shoot it down. This is mostly due to a difference in aesthetics, and not the quality of the poem. I don't tell this to people whose work we've all rejected outright. As for waiting, Ivy has given most excellent advice, keep writing and let go of it. Keep careful records, and send a query after 3 months or 6 months, depending on what the journal states as a response time.
Reading and choosing work for an issue takes time, especially when work is read carefully. The more popular the journal, the more submissions they receive, and thus the longer the acceptance/rejection process.
Most editors have day jobs and families and poems of their own to write. Unless, of course, they're reading my work, which is totally different and they need to stop fucking around and give me a response. Now.
Well - I am not that nice. I usually just say "these don't work out for me" and sign it (if I really did not like them) just with my last name...Menendez.
Thanks women
I know all the stuff you said in my brain it was taking a bit to travel down to my gut. Thank you taking the time to remind me.
Oh and Didi I LOVE that you are not that nice:)
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