About a month ago I sent out a short story I'm fairly proud of to a few literary magazines, and a couple days ago I got my first rejection email. Today was the second. Now, historically I've taken rejection in its various forms quite badly such that I've fashioned myself a life with as little vulnerability as possible. The only magazines I'd submitted to up until this point were student magazines I was fairly confident of getting into. I don't mean to downplay the significance of those acceptances! They were great confidence boosters. But well. I've been writing fiction since 2018. It's taken six years for me to send anything out for realsies!
The first rejection I got was from a queer-centric mag whose whole vibe struck me as pretentious in a kind of unfun way. But well, they're queer! The story I was submitting was pointedly about being trans. You think they'd fuck with me? I guess not. I was not crushed by the rejection. Well, for a second I was. It didn't take me long to recover. The letter itself had an...air to it that I can't help but chortle at a little. "We appreciate that our mission and editorial voice spoke to you and prompted you to be part of the conversation we're fostering." Yeah, man. Really wanted to be part of that conversation you're fostering. Hahaha.
The second letter was from a bigger magazine that was kind of a reach. The wording was more boiler plate and made me a lot sadder. There's a Rejection Letter Wiki archiving rejection letter templates from different magazines. They distinguish between "Standard" and "Higher tier" rejections. I got a standard. This was a magazine several writers I admire and feel "in conversation with" got into.
Alas.
I'm not too beat up about this. It's humbling. You read all these stories of famous writers getting rejection after rejection when just starting. You have to start somewhere. It's just a shame about getting a rejection email as oppossed to a physical letter. Nothing to frame and hang on my wall. And fuck printing it out.