I don’t imagine that anyone cares for rejection too much.  As much as we don’t like it, it’s important for writers to admit that it is part of the landscape.  I have a special place in my writing space called “The Wall of Shame”.  It is in this place that I put rejection letters for all to see.  I think we need to keep rejection in perspective.

So dontcha know that when I saw Other People’s Rejection Letters: Relationship Enders, Career Killers, and 150 Other Letters You’ll Be Glad You Didn’t Receive come across my desk at the library I scooped it right up.  I loved it.

Rejection Letters is about 200 pages worth of stinging, sometimes subtle, sometimes in your face actual rejections.  Some are more famous, like the US Army discharge recommendation for one James Hendrix: “Pvt Hendrix plays a musical instrument during his off duty hours, or so he says.  This is one of his faults, because his mind apparently cannot function while performing duties and thinking about his guitar.”  Man, you gotta love that.

Other rejection letters include end of relationship correspondence that ranges from the sweet (but BS in my view) “let’s be friends” to rambling diatribe that makes damn near no sense at all.  There are letters from a child to a parent and then there are things like this one from a mother to her son: “Sometime I think you are a big jackass but I love you – Mommie”

I love the format of the book.  The pages are for the most part images or copies of actual notes, be they handwritten, printed emails or old letters written on typewriters.  Some of the rejections are screenshots of text messages on cell phones.  It was a very easy read and I was finished within two hours.  What I found particularly amusing were rejections from editors that contained typos (Pot to Kettle!)

If you have received any kind of rejection letter in the recent past, this book will help to make you feel a little better about the rejection.  Maybe it will give you hope.  At a minimum it should give you a chuckle or two.

This is well worth checking out from your library, or better yet help me make a few cents and click on the link which takes you straight to Amazon.

Enjoy.