THIS IS WHAT REJECTION LOOKS LIKE
I just logged into the Brown application website to try to view my MFA rejection letter. It’s no longer there. I am wondering where it went. My status is simply “submitted” and no longer rejected. Could my rejection have been revoked? No, probably not. There is probably a demon in their system affording me this glimmer of false hope—like dreaming of your crush putting the moves on you. The first thing I actually thought was, “What am I going to tell my parents?” They are used to me always being “the best” and are far more invested in my success than I am. I told them not to get their hopes up. I put together a typo-filled portfolio the night before it was due because I was visiting my mom who was in the hospital from a suicide attempt and applying to grad school was the last thing on my mind. But I had an application waiver, so I sent it off with a statement that basically said, “I’m sorry this is bad. My life is a wreck right now.”
Luckily, I copy and pasted the rejection letter into my long poem before it disappeared:
Dear lowly—I mean lonely—one,
This is Tupac Shakur
I am speaking from the kingdom beyond the crack
I am also an alien and member of the blob you wish to join
This is not a form letter
I take the time to reply to each application personally
Actually, you’re the only one who applied
So this might become a form letter eventually
I’m sorry, we cannot offer you space in our kingdom
I regret to inform you that the Literary Arts, MFA – Fiction Program did not approve your application for admission to Brown University’s Graduate School for the 2011-2012 academic year. Admission decisions are made on a comparative basis and are the result of a careful evaluation of each candidate’s application, taking into account academic achievement, preparation for advanced study, and other supporting materials.The majority of those who apply to the Graduate School have strong qualifications and demonstrate an ability to do advanced academic work. We regret that we have to disappoint many bright and talented students.
Thank you for your interest in Brown. I wish you the best in your academic endeavors.
Sincerely,
Peter M. Weber
Dean of the Graduate School
Brown UniversityTupac Shakur
The Kingdom Beyond the Crack
I just wanted to let you know, if you get rejected, it’s not because you are bad.
The first thing I thought was, “Why hasn’t anyone told me that I’m a bad writer until now?”
It’s everything except BECAUSE YOU ARE BAD.
(This is me trying to convince myself.)
It’s because the world isn’t ready.
It’s because nobody knows how to think of your work yet.
It’s because you’re an unapologetic and sloppy fuck up who lets it show.
It’s because your works stinks but you like it stinky.
It’s because you’re too fucking disorganized to copy and paste your scattered stories into a word document that looks nice.
It’s because you fell asleep without doing your application telling yourself tomorrow but didn’t wake up in time.
What if I just “applied” myself?
I am wondering about the distinction between depression and laziness
Not today no I cannot do it today maybe never I am VERY tired
When I purge my energy I purge everything
I purged my energy
I am ashamed of these attempts at looking presentable
That’s the bigger failure—giving in
Wandering away from your vision because you are seduced by the image of making it.
Are there such things as passionate underachievers?
The truth is I am confused about what I am supposed to do
As a writer
I haven’t got a rich husband and the amount in my bank account just keeps going down
My parents say, “What are you doing? Your older brother is in prison for life and your little brother can’t get a job at McDonalds and we don’t have jobs ourselves—we need someone to take care of us you are our only hope.”
I suffer life’s indignities the best I can
I’ve worked my share of shit jobs and I guess they can be fodder for funny stories but it still doesn’t make living through it any easier
Making it makes explaining “what you do” easier to strangers
Makes the question less shameful
Sometimes I did it because the only way I could continue my work was by hearing
YOU ARE NOT BAD!
I started to care but now I am back on the edge on the fringe of everything even my mind
Some other person’s value-system unraveling again
COME BACK YOU COULD BE GOOD
I am sorry this is making me insane besides the quality of my art I have my mental health to worry about
And this is all weighing on me in this very weird way
So I will be returning my “writer” card now
I am sorry
A weakling—I know
Not a giant or genius I know but it was never about that for me
So you’re going to have to find someone else to seduce because I am not easy
I know you think American girls are easy
I’m too grossed out by your advances and maybe I am uptight I don’t know
I resent that my subconscious response is often “ooohh maybe I am desirable”
Because it puts my worth in your hands
Because at the end of the day you win
Because I am not strong enough to generate enough self-love on my own
I dream of writers I know rejecting me (romantically!)
Excuses utopianism delusions
That’s all this is
This “no standards” bullshit
You’re all lazy shitheads
Hm. Maybe.
But the point is I need it to be open in order to live and YOU’RE KILLING EVERYTHING, INCLUDING YOURSELVES
Chill out, man
Sorry I got carried away
Maybe the only thing gained by this mania is
THE LOSS OF FEAR
Fear keeps you in check, makes you stronger greater bigger faster BETTER
I know what you mean, I do
Weak, I know
A failure, I know
A reject—I concur!
It’s true.
Everything they say is true.
I’m not fighting it but I am fighting it
By not giving a shit
Tags: brown university, going crazy, MFA, rejection, rejection letter
I think I know how your words say you felt. I ate my first rejection letter so it would only be in my body for at most 72 hours. If you want, I’m collecting failed graduate essays for my zine so other people can copy them and also fail, send me your essay or story.
http://qr.net/g8i
Back in the day I got a rejection letter, then a few weeks later an acceptance letter. I had to call to straighten it out. I was in. I wasn’t given an assistantship and that’s what generated the confusion I guess. Took out a loan and hit the road.
I was rejected from an MFA program. I still hold a grudge against them. I resent the rejection. A lot.
If you want to be in an MFA program, maybe you want to go to NMSU? Rumor has it there’s (ahem) a super cool new prof working in their fiction program next year.
Also: I don’t submit to journals because I can’t take the rejection. I’d rather forego the pleasure of acceptance than endure the little slip of paper saying “You are not good enough for us.” Or, I’m a little crazy-sensitive.
Lily – I am totally the same way. In terms of submitting things to journals. I feel already I deal with so much rejection from presses.
Jackie – You are one of my favorite writers. I have no doubt I would be rejected from Brown as well. I think you should write your essays and texts and make films and move to Berlin.
Rejection is simply disagreement. People don’t tend to realize that, but it’s true. Do you expect people to enjoy every single thing you do? Have you ever disliked something, not because it was bad but simply because it didn’t suit your tastes? I don’t like The Beatles, Citizen Kane or onions but I don’t think people who do are wrong. I think they are different than me.
Having your writing rejected is often nothing more than an editor disagreeing with you. You probably don’t enjoy every novel, poem and story that they have taken pleasure in, nor do they likely enjoy everything that you have liked. So is it really that big a deal if they don’t enjoy your work? Yes, it hurts because it’s your own writing, but in the grand scheme of things it’s just writing. If their favourite author had written it in the exact same manner, they still wouldn’t enjoy it. Not because it isn’t good enough but because it isn’t their thing.
When viewed analytically, the way people consider rejection is odd. The person being rejected takes it entirely personal, whereas the person doing the rejection is doing it on a completely impersonal level. As I said, I don’t like onions. If someone cooks a dish which contains a lot of onions, I’m not going to like it. It would be crazy for them to take that rejection of their dish personally. So maybe whoever rejected your writing doesn’t like [onions] and your story contained [onions]. It sucks, but such is life. If life were easy, all writing would be boring.
I like this response. But, does this assume that there really isn’t a standard at all beyond subjective preference? I mean, I’ve read things and said “Well I don’t like this, it doesn’t fit with me, I’m not into it.” and then I’ve read things and said “This is really bad, and here’s why…” and could point out all of the things that were bad? Either way, I like what you’ve said here, and I think it’s a much more productive way of looking at rejection. Yes, maybe the stuff needs work, but maybe it’s also just that they aren’t into what I’m into, and hey, if I know what I’m saying, and why I’m saying it, and why it’s important that I say it in the way I’ve said it, then who cares if (and of course) people aren’t going to like it?
I was rejected from Brown many years ago now. I’m a happy person with poems and friends and pets and sometimes world-weariness and blue mondays and pimples! and! and! it’s such a fucking crapshoot and it means next to nothing.
i think the problem is rejections from MFA programs (at least) seem different– like, they aren’t just rejecting your writing, they are basically rejecting your potential to grow into a writer that they want to read after 2-3 years. like, it seems fucked up to me, and when i think about it i start to question what an mfa program is even for (other than to give yourself a way to have income while “doing nothing but writing” for a finite period of time [and yes i realize that you are clearly not “doing nothing but writing”]). but like, if you are already writing exactly how your future profs want you to be writing, what do they want you to learn? i don’t really know what i’m talking about.
Sam Lipsyte hasn’t written a word that I didn’t like. Radiohead hasn’t put out an album that I didn’t like. Same with Minus The Bear and The Appleseed Cast. I think I could go on… but I won’t.
There certainly is such a thing as shitty writing, as well as writing that’s perfectly fine except for some ‘thing’ that keeps it from working. I was basically ignoring that as irrelevant to whomever I was addressing my thoughts. (And who that is isn’t entirely clear, partially to Jackie, partially to Lily & Kate, partially to my girlfriend who constantly doubts her worth as an artist.) Due to my current state of mind, my thoughts could probably have been expressed much more eloquently, but I’m glad that the point I was trying to make seems to have made it through.
That could be. I’m still having difficulty wrapping my mind around the idea of going to school to learn how to write. I can understand some of the benefits but I have trouble grasping the concept as a whole. Of course, I went to college for a whopping two weeks before dropping out. (That’s an entire essay in-and-of itself. I accidentally got a full scholarship to any college in my state, so I felt obligated to go even though I wasn’t ready. (To answer the question, you accidentally get a scholarship by taking a test just to be an asshole and flip the bird to all your classmates faces when you outscore them. (I went to a very small school, so I was, in fact, able to flip off all of my classmates at once.))) In other words, I don’t really know what I’m talking about either and should probably shut up and go to sleep.
If Radiohead were to record a cover of your least favourite album of all time and play it exactly like the original band did, would you like it simply because it was Radiohead, despite the content of the album itself?
Any rejection that prevents you from working in/on what you want to do with your life feels like your potential’s also been rejected. And, even if you’re accepted into a program, having a professor hammer your writing for (what seem) their elitist-but-all-their-shit’s-on-the-bargain-shelf reasons is rejection from up close and at full speed, and can feel worse: like, “O! We gambled on your future but all you write is this tommyrot.” But you asked for it, I guess (or, I did). I’ve never been in a useful class or workshop that’s taught me how to write–the good ones have taught me forms, history, theory, patience (or they’ve tried to instill at least some kind of discipline and other-mindedness = 98% of workshop busywork), which are all things I’d like to think I didn’t need to pay dollars for. But even to tell other people that you’re “learning to write,” or that you’re teaching other people how, is ominous whether it’s a mistake of terms or a really really tightly held belief. The same type will say “study” instead of “research,” and “research” instead of nothing, and why are they sharing their MFA (self-)justifications, anyway.
wait, i wrote
“I just wanted to let you know, if you get rejected, it’s not because you are bad.”
i am at war with that idea. i cannot articulate it now because i took my ambien and am fading fast but it is about resisting that and making space for a different value system but still suffering under the one you don’t believe in. when i say, “the world isn’t ready” that’s kind of what you are saying about disagreement a little. anyhoo–i have somewhat thick skin about this stuff but i have to reorient myself–remember what i’m about. i am incoherent now so i sign off.
and you work at new college. most MFAs cant get any jobs. i miss sarasota and might travel to see you guys. ps on the htmlgiant email list i saw you live on Iroquois which is the street i lived on. there is a good avocado and lychee tree on that street. we lived behind the minigolf course. i am slurring my fingers and the screen is throbbing so i will end this comment
i got into columbia for fiction, but can’t go. tuition plus living expenses is 150k for the two-year degree, and i got zero funding. i didn’t get in anywhere else, so i actually wish i had just been rejected. i guess we’ll both be trying again next year.
what words do you dislike? Personally, if Lipsyte used “vulva”, I would throw the book against the wall. Hate that word.
“If Radiohead were to record a cover of your least favourite album of all time and play it exactly like the original band did, would you like it simply because it was Radiohead, despite the content of the album itself?”
Maybe not Radiohead, but yes if it was played by Pierre Mendard.
i’m pretty sure you lived next door to me :) where’s the lychee tree? my fave–and loquats. Re: getting jobs. I think creative people should be creative about what they do. I could have “put myself on the market” so to speak, but I live according to different rules. I live in a place for whatever reason (sometimes adventure, sometimes family illness, etc. etc.) and I find things that work around my life. First and foremost, I’m a writer. Period. I hope you come visit!!! We’ll have a soiree at my house.
oh man it is such a poop in the face that you have to log into their dumb website to read their dumb rejection letter.
in 2004 I was accepted at a very fancy mfa program. (i had never published a short story.) for various reasons I could not go that year so i had to turn it down. in 2009, I reapplied to that same program—after having published many short stories in good journals and having a stories anthologized and all that. they turned me down. i guess it all comes around.
Not criticizing either you or Jackie because obviously things have worked out for you and Jackie’s post is very moving in its candor, but this is kind of crazy to me. You’re both talking about one rejection. Just one. And after all you’ve accomplished you still resent it?
I have a story coming out in a journal many would consider “top tier”. It was rejected by more than 40 other journals, many that would be considered much lower tier by those interested in ranking such things. (And I carefully chose these journals. I wasn’t just carpet bombing a bunch of mags I’d never heard of.) I don’t resent the rejections because obviously there’s no easy logic to the process.
If your skin is really so thin, doesn’t it kind of terrify you to think that you may have given up altogether if, for instance, first book publication hadn’t come as soon or as easily as it did? (Sorry, I know I’m presuming here, but you published your first book at a relatively young age, right?)
I hope I’m not coming across as insulting. I applied to 6 PhD programs this year and I’m almost 100% certain that I’ll end up being rejected by all of them, so I know that pain. But lately I’ve been reading a lot “This got rejected by 5 or 10 places, so I’m giving up” in writers’ blogs people and it drives me crazy. A lot of great and even important writing may never reach anyone with that kind of attitude.
yeah. it’s hilarious. that’s how it was with amherst. the email just said, “Your application status has changed.” lol
When I receive a rejection notice – I look at what I submitted and decide if it could be better or not. I improve it if I can and leave it if I don’t – there is no arguing or accounting for taste and most people don’t have it.
why is this anonymous?
I’m afraid of being rejected by my peers. The e-mail address I signed in through is weird but legitimate.
What is it, like $800,000 per year to attend Brown MFA? Rejection might be the best thing that ever happened to you.
Or does Brown fund everyone that is accepted?
this comment is really pretty in a drug way
What does it mean when you get into Brown. Do people hate you? Because it was just an accident.
I got rejected by NYU this year and Hunter last year. I guess every writer goes through it. I hope to stick it to them with a book! Good luck to others..
Also, if you compare the list of your favorite writers who did not receive an MFA from Brown versus the list of writers who have received MFAs from Brown, I think you will see that you are currently a member of the more august group.
why would people hate you? pac, you got in? why you always leaving me behind. i will be beamed up to you soon. here i cooome
they fund you. it was the only MFA i was interested in, mostly because i don’t want to go into debt for a useless degree
i can submit my essay, ha. that zine sounds great.
how do you eat the letter if it’s digital?
whoa what teases
i wonder if it’s a randomized lottery system that determines who gets in. that would be comforting. or maybe if you don’t publish you are more pure and they like that?
yes the ambien was starting to kick in. i wandered to the computer at around 6am because i wanted to fix a typo and i started drunk dialing…err commenting… ambien commenting
the lychee tree is in the yard of a weird red neck guy that has a security camera and giant bunny by his door. i think his house is to the right of the funeral home and empty lot that looks out onto US 41. it’s a HUGE tree. summer is lychee season–maybe mid-summer. they should be budding now. the man keeps a ladder by the tree during the season and is friendly about sharing. there is also the lychee in the yard of my boss from the seabreeze/super 8 motels… i forget the corner it’s on… close though. they have AMAZING trees (mangoa citrus) but are unfriendly about sharing. the avocado tree is directly across from my old home. the yellowish cottage-y looking 2 story house with an ornamental white fence. i will keep you posted about sarasota plans.
I must start this whole ambien writing thing.
Sometimes MFA programs reject someone simply because they accept a small number of students—Brown—and are looking for an interesting mix. Other times, they reject based not on a lack of potential, but on whether they believe the program can actually help a student meet that potential. Someone writing rock-ribbed realism wouldn’t be helped all that much at Brown, potentially.
Then there are the various hidden reasons: Brown won’t accept anyone with a book. Some MFA programs won’t accept anyone who lives locally, etc.
The only thing you know for sure is that you won’t get it if you don’t try.
I went to Iowa with brilliant writers, many of whom now grace the fancy new 20 Under 40 New Yorker paperback I see prominently displayed at my local bookstore. Success! Yet almost all of my classmates had been rejected by other programs – – and of course we were all and still are rejected regularly by magazines and grants and fellowships and jobs and lit blogs and small press journals. Everyone is.
You have to say so what.
The truth is that once you’re at a certain level of talent / skill / craftsmanship, it all comes down to the basic matter of personal taste.
Who read your application? Just some person. Before or after lunch? With a good night’s sleep or with a hangover? And, unlucky for you, did they previously accept a writer with similar subject matter or prose style? Or just read a sister application – – maybe worse than yours, but similar enough to make yours feel familiar?
So what. Rejection is part of the lifestyle.
Do it again. Try more schools. Get rejected again. Try Brown next year.
Prepare yourself for a lifetime of it. So what. This is what it is to be an artist. It’s okay.
you should probably send it soon since we’re stapling wednesday and having the publishing party on saturday! you can come if you want and read your essay to my friends. about the digital copy, you could self inflict a virus, but that might inflict more damage than good.
Agreed.
Back when I was applying for an MFA, I was a bit cocky and only applied to 4 the first year. I ended up getting into only 1 of them, and a teaching assistantship only came at the last minute. I chose to reload and apply again the next year.
I applied to 10 schools, got into, I believe, 6. In terms of rankings (if there were rankings back then), I got into programs I wouldn’t have expected and got rejected from those I’d probably thought were safer. I went where I could go for the longest and come out debt-free.
I feel for harmonious_monk above. 150K for an MFA? Though I think in the end every writer has to make his/her own decision, it seems a bit careless on Columbia’s part to dangle a carrot there that comes at such a high price. Personally, I’d feel pretty ruined as a writer with that rock on top of me after receiving my degree. 150K of debt may very well change your career path, and you may not find much time for the writing once the man has stuck it to you.
Hi I hate myself, please don’t hate yourself. Yes, I often think about my thin skin. Ive been quite lucky with writing, and I’m pretty sure that had I come across “stumbling blocks,” I’d likely have quit writing. For instance, I applied to six mfa programs and got into five. I sent my first book ms to one place and it was accepted. I’m not saying this to brag, simply to acknowledge that had I not been lucky – and I insist that a lot of it WAS luck – I would’ve quit. I know a lot of people who have struggled to publish their first novel for ages without success. I’m impatient. I also dislike not being good at things. So, yes, being completely honest here, I would have quit writing because of my impatience and thin skin. I could be curing cancer or colonizing Mars right now. Instead, i write books and stuff.
Hi I hate myself, please don’t hate yourself. Yes, I often think about my thin skin. Ive been quite lucky with writing, and I’m pretty sure that had I come across “stumbling blocks,” I’d likely have quit writing. For instance, I applied to six mfa programs and got into five. I sent my first book ms to one place and it was accepted. I’m not saying this to brag, simply to acknowledge that had I not been lucky – and I insist that a lot of it WAS luck – I would’ve quit. I know a lot of people who have struggled to publish their first novel for ages without success. I’m impatient. I also dislike not being good at things. So, yes, being completely honest here, I would have quit writing because of my impatience and thin skin. I could be curing cancer or colonizing Mars right now. Instead, i write books and stuff.
Why?
Why?
believe me, i’d go in a heartbeat… if i had a spare apartment complex to sell. the faculty/program is undeniably great, but the fact that my socioeconomic standing is what’s holding me back though? hurts worse than a rejection. i was physically sick for a couple of days. fun stuff.
http://qr.net/CD0
Good post.
I’ll add, “no one cares enough to stop you.”
You can view rejection as someone attempting to stop you, or you can take the view that one rejection has nothing to do with the next submission. And, even if you’re “accepted,” no one cares. The world doesn’t give a fuck about your MFA degree, or your story in Smokelong Quarterly (other than your writer friends and Grandmother).
And this is all pretty liberating if you ask me.
What a bizarre post. You’re too impatient to handle rejection? You were accepted by 5 out of 6 MFA programs and resent the one program that rejected you? Bless your precious heart! Did you live a sheltered life growing up?
As someone who didn’t have the greatest upbringing in the world, the notion that “rejection” from lit journals is somehow impossible for you to handle, or that you hold a grunge against the one MFA program out of six that rejected you, is very strange, if not downright offensive–despite your “honesty.”
Yet you, MFBomb, won’t risk so much as using your own name. Well, if you don’t have to, I don’t have to, either. But leave Lily alone, coward.
Ah, I love it when a little anonymity threatens those who would like to use one’s identity against him or her to suppress his or her opinions, which, of course, speaks to the liberation of anonymity.
The fact that you basically imply that the use of my real name could be used against me–based on my mere opinions about her opinions–says a lot about you and my reasons for remaining anonymous.
Whose the coward again?
*Who is the coward again?
Why, it’s, you!
Why do so many of you morons expect people to use their real names when they express opinions you don’t like on message boards? Do you realize what this says about you? Do commenters need to show you their driver’s licenses and social security cards every time they express an opinion you don’t like under an anon handle? What about a passport? Or maybe a tattoo so that you can keep track of the posters you deem threatening or suspicious?
BTW, protector of Lily, what exactly is so over-the-line about my initial post?
What an effing joke you are.
privacy isn’t dead. it just requires a bit of legerdemain.
also: u mad.
@bomb
also also: u do make a good point, albeit rather histrionically.
it’s sad to me how efficient the net is at enabling attention seeking behavior in individuals painfully lacking in self-awareness.
@m. kitchell
why anonymous? why use your real name? why make it easy for people to find you?
not everyone wants to be famous, and maybe i’m just an idealist, but i’d rather place more trust in your words than who you are and where you come from.
not sure if i have a point here. feel obligated to, like, mediate whatever this non-dispute is.
you have to realize that if a creative writing program is accepting an infinitesimally small percentage of more than 1,000 applicants, subjectivity in the reading of your writing portfolio is a virtual lock to be a major factor. even wheedling a group of 25 or so highly qualified and/or capable applicants isn’t going to be a clear-cut process. it’s a lottery.
i’m waiting in earnest for the eventual poets&writers article whereby someone sends out a hemingway short story under a fake name to all the major programs and reports what happens. i can’t remember where i read this, but someone did do this with all the major movie studios using the casablanca script; hilarity ensued.
you have to realize that if a creative writing program is accepting an infinitesimally small percentage of more than 1,000 applicants, subjectivity in the reading of your writing portfolio is a virtual lock to be a major factor. even wheedling a group of 25 or so highly qualified and/or capable applicants isn’t going to be a clear-cut process. it’s a lottery.
i’m waiting in earnest for the eventual poets&writers article whereby someone sends out a hemingway short story under a fake name to all the major programs and reports what happens. i can’t remember where i read this, but someone did do this with all the major movie studios using the casablanca script; hilarity ensued.
whoops. this was meant to be a response to jackie’s response to karl taro up there. dunno why it posted twice.
Hi MFBomb: No, I did not have a sheltered life growing up. My parents both worked multiple jobs, I was barely lower-middle class, I didn’t know there was a difference between the two very different languages I learned simultaneously. I didn’t really have any friends until I was halfway through elementary school. My best friends in college narced on me. I don’t handle rejection well because I’ve spent a lot of my life being rejected. Writing is something I am good at. So, maybe you should be careful about your assumptions. Unlike you, I am not anonymous. (As in, there’s a real person behind this avatar.)
Also: I don’t handle rejection well because I am sensitive. I hold an irrational grudge against people and places because I am sensitive. I don’t feel entitled. I am basically a stunted child.
Although: I have no idea how my personal feelings could be “downright offensive” to you. Maybe you’re the sensitive one?
thanks, anonymous friend.
Arguably, “M Kitchell” is just as much of a constructed persona as, perhaps, MFBomb & harmonoius_monk is– but in all cases there is a distinct person/persona tied to the name. Clearly, the poster created the “I hate myself” moniker in order to separate this post from whatever persona he or she normal assumes on the web. I was just wondering why this post needed a distanced avatar in order to be presented.
the idea that people are attempting to call you out on anonymity has very little to do with an interest in “suppressing” whatever you have to say. it’s IPs that get banned, not given names. SOUNDS LIKE SOMEBODY’S GOT A COMPLEX.
fair dinkum.
speaking of constructed personas, i’m started to wonder when i’m going to ditch this one.
The idea that “suppression” can only can from a literal ban has very little to do with my post.
Thanks, Lil Hoang. What are you, 12? So anytime an anon poster disagrees with you, you pout, stick out your tongue, and say, “nanny-nanny-boo, you’re anonymous?”
i think anonymous commenters are part of The Fun of The Read
what Do people really want to know beyond the words?
“So, maybe you should be careful about your assumptions. Unlike you, I am not anonymous. (As in, there’s a real person behind this avatar.)”
__________________
Actually, I asked you a question, and it wasn’t rhetorical.
I’m also very impressed with the courage that it took for you to sign your name to your post. Some men and women die in wars, some rescue kittens and babies from burning houses, and some use their real names on HTML Giant, usually to help promote their work. Where can I send you your medal of honor, Lily Hoang?
“Also: I don’t handle rejection well because I am sensitive. I hold an irrational grudge against people and places because I am sensitive. I don’t feel entitled. I am basically a stunted child. ”
_______________
But you do come off as entitled. You had your first MS accepted by a publisher. 5 MFA programs out of 6accepted you. And yet, you still “can’t handle rejection.” That is entitlement.
MFBomb: The “thanks, anonymous friend” was supposed to go after “BFMomb”‘s comment, not yours. I wasn’t trying to be passive aggressive towards you. I thought it was funny, pointing out my protector’s anonymity, you know?
Aside from which, commenters disagree with me all the time. Many of the posts I put up are there in hopes of discussion and disagreement. I have very rarely pointed out anonymity. In this situation, I brought it up because I was piggy-backing on Mike’s comment. For the record: Not everyone has a blog to link to. Not everyone wants to be linked. And I can understand why some commenters don’t want their identities known. I get it.
Sorry, touche. I just get sick and tired of people playing that card whenever an anon poster says something a named poster doesn’t like. I’ve yet to hear, “you know, I really like your point, but why are you anonymous?!”
A person can also promote herself without a blog to link.
you’re out on the ledge of your domain with these cray cray assertions
I think the blogonym “I hate myself” is a bit of gentle teasing of Jackie and lily: the person makes the point that the two of them are confessing perturbation at one rejection, when, for many, a career (or life) in writing entails copious rejections. The tag is a jokey-but-respectful entrance or first sign to the post.
harmonious monk, this pre-google experiment – “experimental writing”! – will make you laff, especially the re-do sent to the same (first) four publishers. http://www.museumofhoaxes.com/hoax/archive/permalink/the_steps_experiment/ .
– and here’s a general discussion – Samson Agonistes ha ha ha: http://www.museumofhoaxes.com/hoax/Hoaxipedia/Spurious_Submission_Hoaxes/ .
someone did a stunt like this a while ago but with faulkner stories and litmag editors. cant find the essay he wrote about it anymore, but…yeah.
yeah, wacky stuff.
oh, the business side of things…
heh.
You raise a good point, one that probably speaks to my frustrations. Is it even possible to avoid “rejection”? How can one say, “I’m too sensitive to handle rejection” while defining or casting “rejection” so narrowly? It reeks of disingenuousness.
Came across this accidentally, very interesting! :)