Got a big rejection yesterday
Oh, hi friends!
I woke up on Monday to a rejection three months in the making.
Back in August, I submitted a few poems to Granta. Why Granta? It’s prestigious (I am the person who applied for the Pulitzer Prize for Drama, remember?!) and they had an open submissions call for poetry and prose and I was in a funk and thought, Well, why not Granta?
And a deadline forces you to refine and revise.
So I saw the email in my inbox this morning, with the key word “unfortunately” sitting there smacking its lips.
Then I read the entire thing:
Thank you for giving us the opportunity to consider your poetry. Unfortunately, these particular pieces are not right for the magazine.
Kara there is such strong writing here, 'Buffet' has such evocative sensibilities. 'beware the bowl of berries stinging'- excellent!
We wish you the best of luck with your writing.
And I practically levitated with joy.
I remembered why I submit. Not because something is prestigious or even because I need a deadline.
But because it feels good to try, even when you fail.
Aim high, gather information, and keep going.
(By the way, their next submission period begins Nov. 18. Another fun resource is the Rejection Wiki, for rejections of all stripes.)
“If you’re researching a subject — because, say, you plan to write an article or a blog post, or to do a presentation, or simply to grasp a subject well enough to guide a major decision in your life — you can try to detect: Have I reached saturation?”
Obsessed with this instructive article by Clive Thompson about how to know when you’re done with research and ready to start writing. (h/t Amy Shearn!)
(Are you like me and can research forever, whether it's a book idea or which flannel sheets are the best for winters?)
He argues that you’ve reached “saturation” when the rate of new information you find starts slowing down.
The more you read, the more you begin running into the same names, stories, or explanations.
When that happens, you’re at the point where you know a subject well enough to write about it. (Keeping this in mind while looking at a 60-page research doc I’ve compiled — time to start writing already?!)
My Best Friends
Usually I recommend a show or song or throw in a photo of an animal here, but lately we’ve been watching Jack Irish, starring a pre-Mare of Easttown Guy Pearce — and it’s only available to stream on AcornTV (what is that? I still don’t know!) or to buy on Apple and elsewhere.
But I will say something anyway about this show you might never watch. These three guys — Wilbur, Norm, and Eric — are my favorite part of the show. They sit at a pub and talk about footy (is that football or soccer? I still don’t know!) and they remind me that you don’t always need flash or complex sets or grand statements to make something extremely entertaining.
Give the audience funny, sharp, character-defining dialogue and you’re more than halfway there. Simplicity works. (For almost all things.)
Do you like these daily emails? Please share with a friend!
You can also support my work by checking out my motivational journal, Do It For Yourself, designed to guide you through your creative and work projects.
Thanks, as always, for reading.
Love, Kara