Hilde’s Top Ten ThingsTo Do With a Rejection Letter

by Hilde Garcia

From now on- “IT” refers to “the letter”

10 - Order a pizza. Make sure to get grease on IT.

9 - Let your kids color on IT.

8 - Eat a Bag of Doritos and use IT as a napkin.

7 - Play desk basketball with IT.

6 - Make a paper airplane with IT and throw it into your neighbor’s yard.

5 - Throw a party and use IT as a dartboard.

4 - Use IT for origami.

3 - Change the name on IT and send IT to someone you don’t like.

2- Look for mistakes in IT and return IT to sender.

1- Read IT. Sigh. Eat a pound of chocolate.

It is only a word. NO. 

If you turn the word around, it spells ON, as in, “You’re on. I’ll get published in spite of your NO.” And then laugh all the way to the bank when you do.

No is just that, no. It doesn’t mean anything more than that, unless you give it more meaning. And at least in the publishing world, it’s a nice NO, on letterhead, sometimes even with a personal note of encouragement. 

In the word of show biz, you don’t even get that. You get, “You’re not the right type,” right to your face and in front of everyone else. And then they yell, “next.” 

That’s brutal. A rejection letter is not.

It took Dr. Seuss 33 tries before he heard yes for The Cat in the Hat. Jack London received over 600 letters. He used them for wall paper.

Therefore enjoy the rejection and the chocolate. It’ll make the Yes all the sweeter.