The Queen of Rejection Would Like to Renounce Her Throne

So, I received my rejection number 12 (of 12) of the agents I submitted my supernatural YA novel to back at the beginning of the year. I got the email a few days ago and was like "Oh, totally forgot about you." I suppose those are better than the ones where you were really hoping for great news. But, it's been six months--I kinda assumed it was no like five months ago. Still, I was slightly irritated by the rejection because they asked for a lot of information for the submission (a survey, a synopsis, and 30 pages)... I don't know why I expected at least a few words from a real person. Maybe a "Hey, interesting premise but I can't jive with your main character." But no, it was a basic form letter. Here, I'll share it:

Thank you for submitting to Prospect Agency.
 
We greatly appreciate your submission, and have
given The Spirit Keeper our careful consideration.
Unfortunately, your project is not a good fit for
us at this time.
 
We wish you the best of luck in finding an
enthusiastic agent and in your writing career. 
Again, thank you for thinking of Prospect Agency.
 
With best wishes,
Prospect Agency

Hmmm... "greatly appreciate"? Is that hyperbole? I think it is. I do hope to find an "enthusiastic agent" at some point. I definitely expected SOMETHING more than a form letter, especially when they touted about how much time and effort they put into reading submissions. But at least they sent me something. Another one I submitted to was like "if you haven't heard from us in 6 weeks, it's a no." That's just lazy.

Oh well....

I'm tired of rejections to be honest. That's something that e-publishing takes out of the equation. Well, except any negative reviews, of course. Negative reviews are a new kind of beast.

Round Two?

So, I heard back from The Paris Review today--no go on my story. I'm preparing for round two though. So I'll probably start researching journals to send to and edit a few of my other stories as well.

A Down and An Up

So... I applied for this part-time job on campus at the beginning of the month and found out today (after a month-long process where the app pool was narrowed from 60 to 10 to 5 to 2) that I didn't get the job. The other woman got it because she's done the work before and wants to continue it for the next five years. I wasn't smart enough to come up with a job-related 5-year-plan that sounded smart. No, I said some fru-fru about... well, I won't even repeat it here because it's in the past and in retrospect it was completely and utterly ridiculous. I have an interesting reaction time to things. I read the email and was like "eh, no biggie" and then after about fifteen minutes I started to feel numb. Not a great feeling. Its kinda... slushy and vibrate-y with a side dish of oh-my-god-I-can't-work-three-jobs-and-do-school-full-time panic.

I did a few things to get back into the swing of things:

1. Applied for another on campus job (this one WITH benefits) who knows... in the words of Kermit the Frog himself: "I hope that something better comes along!"
   
2. Spent 15 very serious minutes looking through my notes on agents and publishers for my stories, and then pulled out the first chapter of one of my novels to work on it;
3. Considered self publication, comforted by the fact that I'm pretty sure I could sell at least a dozen copies with the prospect of 500 more;
   
4. Went to see Ice Age III: Dawn of the Dinosaurs (I give it an "A");
5. Grabbed a slice of pizza from the mall food court; and
   
6. Came home to find a SASE waiting for me at the bottom of the stairs.
   

I could just tell that it was a rejection waiting for me in that thin envelope--and it was. However, it was my first rejection with a little scribbled note telling me that the editor of the Missouri Review read my story "with interest." Good sign? Good sign. Waiting on three more journals: Tin House, McSweeny's and The Paris Review.

Update (as of 2 minutes after I posted this initially): Tin House rejected me by email. No nice little note. Sheesh. I should rename this post "two downs and an up."

As I move on to possible plan B's I've decided one thing: I've got to seriously get crackin on submitting my work. No more fear.

Nope

AGNI, a journal published at Boston University, sent me an email rejection today. Waiting to hear from five more journals.... Hopefully it'll be a right fit for someone, or I'll get something more than just a generic form letter. I plan to update a few more stories and send them out when the reading periods open up again. Gotta keep trying.

Update (7/24):
Rejected from The Southern Review as well, received the letter today. Ummm... rejections kinda suck a little. Four more left.

Rejected! :c)

I received a form letter from Harper's Magazine today--declined. Shot down by a red scribbled signature (completely unreadable) of an editorial assistant. Oh well... I'll wait to hear from six other places with my fingers crossed and my expectations moderate.