{"id":5809,"date":"2021-02-11T15:45:25","date_gmt":"2021-02-11T20:45:25","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.lucysnyder.com\/?p=5809"},"modified":"2021-02-11T15:45:25","modified_gmt":"2021-02-11T20:45:25","slug":"the-kindest-rejection","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.lucysnyder.com\/index.php\/the-kindest-rejection\/","title":{"rendered":"The Kindest Rejection I’ve Ever Received"},"content":{"rendered":"

If you’re a working writer, or aspire to become one, rejections are part of the landscape. You can expect to have your work rejected hundreds and possibly thousands of times, depending on how much writing you send out into the world and how well you target your submissions. (More in my post “Dealing With Rejections From Editors<\/a>“.)<\/p>\n

I’m not sure how many rejection letters I’ve received. Unlike some authors, I haven’t tried to wallpaper my office with them. I make a note to not submit that particular piece to that particular market again, and send my story or poem elsewhere.<\/p>\n

But sometimes, you get a rejection letter that’s nearly as nice as an acceptance because it’s kind and encouraging and gives you hope for your future career. And on that front, I do know what my favorite rejection letter is.<\/p>\n

Flash back to 1996 when I was in college at Indiana University. Star Trek<\/em> producer Jeri Taylor visited our TV writing class, and my classmate Daniel and I ended up being approved to submit telephone story pitches<\/a> and submitted a full spec script for Star Trek: Deep Space Nine<\/em>. It wasn’t accepted \u2014 for reasons that are obvious to me now that I have a couple more decades of storytelling experience \u2014 but we received this very kind letter from Taylor:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Here’s the text of the letter:<\/p>\n

Dear Daniel and Lucy,<\/p>\n

The season is almost over and I finally have a few moments to catch up on the various stacks of things-to-do that have piled up in my office.<\/p>\n

I read your teleplay “Convergence,” and found it quite well written — far, far better than the average spec script. Since you’re already pitching to us, I can’t offer anything more just now, but I will feed it into the DS9 pile for evaluations over there.<\/p>\n

I think you show definite potential as television writers, and I wish you the best in your endeavors.<\/p>\n

Sincerely,<\/p>\n

Jeri Taylor<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

So, on the face of it, it’s not exactly<\/em> a rejection letter. But I suspect she sent it along knowing the answer from the DS9 evaluators would ultimately be “no”, and she wanted to give a couple of eager college students some encouragement. Knowing the absolutely crushing work schedule that she had, I’m still touched that she took the time to write to us.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

If you’re a working writer, or aspire to become one, rejections are part of the landscape. You can expect to have your work rejected hundreds […]<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":5817,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[4],"tags":[186],"class_list":["post-5809","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-writing-advice","tag-rejection-letter"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.lucysnyder.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/02\/DS9-station.jpg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p8qT6f-1vH","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":722,"url":"https:\/\/www.lucysnyder.com\/index.php\/dealing-with-rejections-from-editors\/","url_meta":{"origin":5809,"position":0},"title":"Dealing with rejections from editors","author":"Lucy A. Snyder","date":"May 10, 2005","format":false,"excerpt":"In the inevitable event that you get a rejection letter from a publisher, you should, in the vast majority of cases, not take it personally. Rejection is hard. But as a writer, you must learn to be serene when you open and read the contents of the too-thin SASE you've\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "writing"","block_context":{"text":"writing","link":"https:\/\/www.lucysnyder.com\/index.php\/category\/writing\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Fake Rejection Letter","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.lucysnyder.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2005\/05\/SnewtyRejection.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.lucysnyder.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2005\/05\/SnewtyRejection.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.lucysnyder.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2005\/05\/SnewtyRejection.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.lucysnyder.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2005\/05\/SnewtyRejection.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":730,"url":"https:\/\/www.lucysnyder.com\/index.php\/pitching-for-star-trek\/","url_meta":{"origin":5809,"position":1},"title":"Pitching for Star Trek","author":"Lucy A. Snyder","date":"April 28, 2005","format":false,"excerpt":"From a writer's standpoint, one of the most interesting aspects of the mid-90s Star Trek shows (Star Trek: Voyager, Star Trek: Deep Space Nine) was that their writers\/producers would listen to story idea pitches from unagented writers1. This was extremely unusual; for every other TV show I've heard of, you\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "writing"","block_context":{"text":"writing","link":"https:\/\/www.lucysnyder.com\/index.php\/category\/writing\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Star Trek Voyager graphic","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.lucysnyder.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2005\/04\/star-trek-voyager-title-featurepic.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.lucysnyder.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2005\/04\/star-trek-voyager-title-featurepic.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.lucysnyder.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2005\/04\/star-trek-voyager-title-featurepic.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.lucysnyder.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2005\/04\/star-trek-voyager-title-featurepic.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":1402,"url":"https:\/\/www.lucysnyder.com\/index.php\/on-editing-and-diversity\/","url_meta":{"origin":5809,"position":2},"title":"On Editing and Diversity","author":"Lucy A. Snyder","date":"July 3, 2017","format":false,"excerpt":"I've had quite a few stories out in the past few years. There are more to be published, and more to be written. Mostly, I'm writing for anthologies I've been invited to submit to. I'm pretty darned fortunate to be in a place in my career where people are regularly\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "editing"","block_context":{"text":"editing","link":"https:\/\/www.lucysnyder.com\/index.php\/category\/editing\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.lucysnyder.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/07\/destroy.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.lucysnyder.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/07\/destroy.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.lucysnyder.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/07\/destroy.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.lucysnyder.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/07\/destroy.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":480,"url":"https:\/\/www.lucysnyder.com\/index.php\/manuscript-tracking-tools\/","url_meta":{"origin":5809,"position":3},"title":"Manuscript Tracking Tools","author":"Lucy A. Snyder","date":"June 5, 2008","format":false,"excerpt":"Beginning writers who send out their very first stories to magazines or anthologies don't usually have much trouble keeping track of where they sent them. Why? They can't stop thinking about them! A new writer often spends her free time anxiously second-guessing herself and her submission decisions: \"Ack! A typo!\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "technology"","block_context":{"text":"technology","link":"https:\/\/www.lucysnyder.com\/index.php\/category\/technology\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":1853,"url":"https:\/\/www.lucysnyder.com\/index.php\/more-advice-to-beginning-writers\/","url_meta":{"origin":5809,"position":4},"title":"More Advice to Beginning Writers","author":"Lucy A. Snyder","date":"April 4, 2018","format":false,"excerpt":"Several years ago, I posted some advice to beginning fiction writers. I still field regular queries\u00a0from aspiring writers. Lately, the questions I've received have fallen into three general categories. 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Snyder","date":"July 24, 2017","format":false,"excerpt":"In publishing, a collection is a book of short pieces (stories, essays, or poetry) all written by the same author or co-authors. Contrast this with an anthology, which is a book of short stories (or, less often, essays or poetry) written by different authors. A collection is usually a substantial\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "editing"","block_context":{"text":"editing","link":"https:\/\/www.lucysnyder.com\/index.php\/category\/editing\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.lucysnyder.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/07\/11222401_10153774451281789_1341538619508807463_n.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.lucysnyder.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/07\/11222401_10153774451281789_1341538619508807463_n.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.lucysnyder.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/07\/11222401_10153774451281789_1341538619508807463_n.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.lucysnyder.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/07\/11222401_10153774451281789_1341538619508807463_n.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]}],"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lucysnyder.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5809","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lucysnyder.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lucysnyder.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lucysnyder.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lucysnyder.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=5809"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.lucysnyder.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5809\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":5816,"href":"https:\/\/www.lucysnyder.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5809\/revisions\/5816"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lucysnyder.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/5817"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lucysnyder.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5809"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lucysnyder.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5809"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lucysnyder.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5809"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}