It’s been a while since I reached into my stack of rejection letters, so today I dove in and pulled this one out, from Maelstrom, for a short story called “Pinch Bobby ‘Til He Bleeds”.
This rejection might win the award for “most extensive comments on a rejected short story”, as well as for “teensiest writing ever”. I don’t believe I made any changes to the story as a result of this rejection, but it’s always cool to receive so much feedback. I previously posted the text of “Pinch Bobby ‘Til He Bleeds” in an earlier random rejection, so if you’re interested in seeing exactly what Bobby’s condition was, I will direct you there. (Let’s just say that the Maelstrom editor is right, and Bobby didn’t really belong at camp.)
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Viscosity 
I just came here after visiting Tricia Sutton’s blog – in which she relates her rejection letters. Should I take this as an omen – and maybe start trying to sell my books to publishers rather than through Lulu? Hmmm. Are there any publishers out there who are ‘out there’ enough to show interest? Hmmm…
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It must be disappointing to put all that work into writing a book then get rejection letters.
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Understatement of the year, Tony. It’s a knife in the guts.
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Actually, this is a very nice rejection letter,and it looks as though the editor meant to provide useful commentary. Ever been rejected by an academic journal (humanities)? I still can’t go back and look at mine! First of all, the readers are anonymous — they know who you are, but you never know who they are. They can be very vicious, too; many academics are mean-spirited and territorial. And you don’t get paid for your work; the idea is to add to your own credentials by publishing. So, you see, it could be worse!
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The title “Pinch Bobby ‘Til He Bleeds” made me laugh out loud … and I don’t do that very often. I’d read it just for the title: classic!
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