Rejections.

Following last weeks successes comes two rejection emails this morning. Lines & Stars magazine has sent me a polite refusal and Saxifrage Press suggests that I need to have 'imaginative leaps to create tension and surprise the reader'. I will take this on board and see if I can apply it to the poems I submitted. There's always room for re-editing. They have also suggested that I re-submit in six month's saying 'there is much to love in these poems.' I really appreciate it when I receive a kind and well-thought out rejection like this. I have received some in the past that have been positively rude which is, to me, unnecessary and quite destructive. It's not easy to build up a skin thick enough to accept rejections without any emotional reaction. I do take most of them in my stride but of course it is easier when you can balance the bad ones with positive ones or even better with a few lovely acceptances. I keep a scrap-book now with my nice acceptance letters/emails in it. Then when I feel like the worst poet in the world with no inspiration, imagination or ability, I look at the scrap-book and feel better.