personal rejection

If you wonder why you rarely get personal responses back from editors, it's because sometimes we get responses back--people trying to engage us in a dialogue. I admire those editors who crit each story they read or say why they didn't take it because it does open them up to responses--often not positive.

I suggest always taking personal rejections in the spirit in which they are intended. This editor (and I suspect most others, at least based on the several I've worked with and know) doesn't waste much time on rejections. Like you, editors don't have much time to spare. It's only when I see true merit in the writing, the skill, the product, that I respond.

If a Potential Customer dropped Clear Skies Window Cleaning Service a note responding that no, they won't be purchasing the window washing service because although the service is impeccable, they don't approve of, say, the cleaning product used, but thanks anyway, does CSWS write this Potential Customer a note telling them what's what? No. CSWS moves on, perhaps reconsidering their product usage along the way, perhaps not. (Either way, it means little to Potential Customer.)

Should be the same in writing. When you put your precious piece of purple prose out on the market, it suddenly becomes nothing more than a commodity--one with a great deal of competition. If you can't separate your emotion from your writing, at least in your dealings with potential customers, then you might reconsider writing as a career choice.

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