Travel Blog

The other day I received the most irritating rejection letter in my career as a writer. (And that's saying something.)

It came not from a high-end magazine - which is why it was not the most disappointing - but from a respected Midwestern quarterly. In a familiar form letter, "The Editors" thanked me for my submission, adding that, though it did not meet their current needs, they appreciated having "the opportunity to consider it for publication." (Though nothing in this impersonal note indicated that my submission had actually been read.) Continuing in the conventional tone of feigned editorial bonhomie, they wished me "luck in placing it elsewhere."

Then, in closing, they wrote: "Keep up the good work."

This was something new, and puzzling. Why would they encourage me to continue writing works that they deem unacceptable? Were they sadists? Or were they simply trying to soften the blow for writers raised in an era of self-esteem? We don't want you, but you're terrific.

Accompanying the rejection letter was another piece of paper, and unfolding it I read "CALL for ENTRIES." The review was inviting me to participate in its "4th Annual Audio Competition." All I needed, they wrote, was "a computer, microphone, software such as GarageBand or Audacity and a great script!"

Reading this I realized what I had originally suspected, that they didn't really mean it when they told me to "keep up the good work." No, they believed that I should take up a whole new line of work. The written word is passe.

That's a lot to take away from a form rejection. Especially one sent by a literary magazine.