I’ve always felt ‘rejection’ is a cruel way to describe the return of writing masterpieces. Just how awful I discovered when I looked up the word in my Collins Australian ‘School’ Dictionary.
Rejection (noun): From Latin reicere meaning ‘to throw back.’
Ouch! All that hard work, hours of slaving over a hot keyboard, only to have someone, supposedly a person with knowledge of what constitutes quality writing, ‘throw it back’ at me. Now how fair is that I ask?
I never know in which particular format the ‘throw back’ might come. It might be a nicely worded letter, oozing with sincerity and hope for the future of my esteemed writing career. On the other hand it could well be a standard ‘throw back’ response. You can pick these by the way they cross out the bits that don’t apply.
‘Thank you for your story/article/essay/poem/book/lecture. We enjoyed reading/browsing/viewing/scribbling on/ignoring it. Unfortunately it is not what we need/require/desire/give a damn about at present. I’ve often thought of complaining about this standardized form of rejection but can never decipher the signature at the bottom. I think it is a conspiracy to prevent me finding out who this person is that doesn’t recognise quality writing when it is stuck under his/her nose.
Do these people have no idea what being a writer entails? My time is limited yet I spared a precious half hour to write the piece they rejected, knowing it would suit their market. It was sprinkled with lots and lots of wonderful adjectives. There was no
shortage of punctuation. The layout was a sight to behold with coloured ink and bold headlines in all the important parts. It was a masterpiece, yet it was thrown back at me.
What’s more it wasn’t even ‘thrown back’ in the pristine state that I’d sent it in. It had coffee stains on it, the corners were dog-eared and they’d charged me for the return postage. The next editor who receives it will think I don’t care about the state of my writing, which will force me to write a note explaining that the last person who ‘threw it back’ didn’t even have the courtesy to take care of it.
In this age of political correctness I think there should be another term for ‘rejection’. Knowing that my work is being ‘thrown back at me’ is detrimental to both my physical and mental health and could leave me with permanent psychological traumas. We must find less offensive and hurtful terms/expressions to use.
Here are a few of my suggestions. I would welcome the addition of yours.
‘We are gently floating your manuscript back to you on a cloud of hope and inspiration.’
‘Your writing has been passed over at this time.’
‘We feel impelled to return your work to you at this point in time.’
‘It would be imprudent of us to publish this masterpiece.’
‘Due to our editorial team being irresolute about your work we are returning it to you.’
I would much rather receive a gentle, caring message like those above. By the time I had read it enough times to realise it was another rejection my heart rate would have hopefully slowed a little and my blood pressure dropped, thus reducing the impact this ‘throw back’ will have on my well being.
Raelene Hall is lives in Outback Western Australia. She has written non-fiction articles for magazines, newspapers and the Net on a variety of topics, including education, Outback life, communications, nature, spirituality, families, technology, and the environment.
Raelene is a regular columnist for a regional newspaper. Contact Raelene at nedscreekstn@bigpond.com or check out her website at www.outbackwriter.com
