Rejection Letter from Boston Review

I haven’t kept my rejections a secret. Henry Morrison, the BC Stylus, McIntosh & Otis, and the Massachusetts Film Office all rejected my submissions. Those days are always tough, and today was another one of them.

But, it wasn’t the Boston Review rejecting me today; I got this letter a few years ago after submitting poetry. Today I found out that the Crohn’s Advocate magazine didn’t use the picture I submitted, and I didn’t win the $5000 myevent.com video contest. I know I’ll get over it; it’s just a little tougher when it comes twice in a day. And just like all these rejection letters I’ve saved, I use it as fuel to better myself and keep going after my dreams.

So, thank you, rejecters. I hope someday sooner rather than later you’re contacting me and I’m the one who gets to choose.

Letter from Massachusetts Department of Education (2005)

This letter was sent to me right before school started 6 years ago. I don’t remember if I read it or just skimmed it, but I didn’t pay much attention to it. I figured if any of my supervisors had a problem with what I was wearing, they would let me know.

I worked in a residential setting with students who had severe emotional and behavioral issues. Anytime you could make them smile for just 10 seconds was worth the effort. These students, along with my co-workers, really enjoyed the t-shirts I wore. Of course, I wore t-shirts that I thought would make everyone laugh. I would wear this one, this one, this one, and this one. I wouldn’t wear t-shirts like this one, this one, this one, or this one.

In the middle of the school year, one of my supervisors told me that I couldn’t wear t-shirts to work anymore. He told me that the letter sent to every teacher specifically said we couldn’t wear t-shirts. I asked for a copy of it, and this is what I got. I still can’t see where it says “no t-shirts”, but maybe my interpretation is just different. I kept wearing t-shirts, but made sure I had a buttoned shirt to cover up if I needed to. No one at work seemed to care, and students kept laughing when I wore them.

I hope all the hard-working teachers are off to a great school year, and aren’t letting their supervisors cramp their style too much!

Letter from Patrick (5/19/94)

So, back in the early 90s, we didn’t have the internet to stay in touch with our college classmates during the summer. We made the occasional expensive long distance phone call, but mostly we wrote letters. I kept just about all of them (like this one from my friend Tim), and still get a kick out of reading them 17 years later. This one is from my best bud Patrick who still wrote to me after dealing directly with my drinking problem for our entire sophomore year.

I love how he 1) started off the letter by mockingly rooting for a NY team 2) referred to a future Bruins-Sharks Stanley Cup match up 3) called the Maple Leafs the “maple queefs” 4) refers to females as “biatches” 5) wrote “Go Vancouver!” on the envelope

Thanks for hanging in there Patrick - you rocked then and you’re rockin’ now!

Letter from My Oncologist to Boston College Health Services (8/12/92)

19 summers ago, I was in the middle of treatment for a cancerous brain tumor and was due to start my freshman year at Boston College. My favorite parts:

• My alphafetoprotein level was over 800, and normal is less than 15 (this number is also what told my doctors I had cancer, and made my scheduled brain surgery biopsy unnecessary)
• The use of “germinoma” reminds me of this scene from Fletch:

Fletch - Paper Bag - watch more funny videos

• The line “he may be able to avoid radiation therapy” – When I was diagnosed, they said I would need chemo and radiation, but really had no explanation for how well I responded to the chemo
• “He would like a full load with five courses, but this may be too ambitious for his first semester.” – Looking back, it probably would have made more sense to take off my first semester (like my doctors and parents suggested), but I didn’t want cancer to tell me when I should start college – and I didn’t.
• The prediction that “there is some chance that he would need to be hospitalized for IV antibiotics” came true. I was hospitalized in the middle of September and was at UMass for two weeks – my longest, and last cancer-related hospitalization.
• The exceptional, excellent, determined, and intelligent comments…not going to argue.
• All of the doctors that were involved with this letter reminded me of this scene from Spies Like Us:

Here we go Bruins, here we go! Play the whole 60, boys!

Letter to Bauer

Faxed this to Bauer today. Hope they want to back me!

Letter from My Friend Andy (2/2/97)

When I tell people about him, the easiest way to describe my friend Andy is by saying whatever I can do, Andy can do better. And I’m not just saying it to be nice or to talk myself down. It’s just true. He is smarter than me, can play guitar better than me, and can play hockey better than me. He also is one of the few people I know who can go toe-to-toe with me as far as life experience/challenges. He is also one of the funniest, kindest people you will ever meet.

When I was in the hospital with cancer, Andy would run up from his crew practice on Lake Quinsigamond and come to visit me. When we were in college (Andy went to Harvard), he saw me at my drunken worst, listened to me when I drunk dialed, and was always supportive. After we graduated college, Andy was often away conducting his own studies in the rain forests of Indonesia. In 1997, emailing from the forest wasn’t an option, so Andy and I kept in touch by writing letters and sending packages.

Here’s the beginning of one Andy sent me in February of 1997, with a funny “Have You Ever Done This?” list Andy made to update me on what had been happening on his end

(Notice #8 in the list - It refers to the first job I got after college…I had obviously told him about it in my last letter). Well, I guess Malaria isn’t that funny… Anyway, enjoy!

Thanks for all the laughs, letters, support, hockey games, and fun times, Andy! Miss you and love you!

Letter from Kimble Unger Literary Arts Group (2/6/03-3/21/03)

The heading makes it look like this agreement had a lifespan. In a way, I guess it did.

After I finished writing TRAGIC COMIC, I sent tons of letters to agencies. I tried reaching out to producers to see if someone was interested in reading it. As you can read about here, here, and here, I got a lot of rejection letters. Still, I never gave up. I kept trying and kept writing.

I wrote 4 more scripts (2 original, 2 Simpsons, and a Family Guy) and published 5 books. I published every day last year about my t-shirts at www.davestshirts.blogspot.com. This year, I’m writing this blog.

I also have rough drafts of two children books and my autobiography (I’ve been through a few things).

I guess my point is I’m ready to have a legitimate agent, unlike this “agency” that wanted me to sign this letter of agreement and pay them $262.50. I never paid them or sent this back, and just found out that was a good decision. They are listed as “Strongly not recommended” on this website, and their current website doesn’t look too impressive either. I’m ready, literary agents. You’re going to be contacted soon. Who wants me?

Note from Suzie (February 5, 1994)

So there I was in rehab during my sophomore year in college…

I was placed in the “dual diagnosis” program for people that had problems with drugs/alcohol in addition to emotional issues. I certainly had post-cancer feelings I wasn’t coping with in a healthy way (drinking shot after show of vodka, for instance), but I felt most of the other “guests” at McLean had emotional issues that were more severe and had been with them longer than mine. There were people that heard voices, some that hated everything about themselves, and others that wanted to hurt themselves. I just wanted to get back to BC, so I did what I needed to do. I agreed to go to a counselor at school and look into when there were AA meetings on campus (more on these later).

When I did get back to campus, this note was waiting for me from my friend Suzie:

I had met Suzie when she was walking through my dorm one night. She and her friends stopped to look at my door, and she was admiring some David Letterman top ten list I had posted. We talked for a bit, and when I told her that I worked at The Club (a late night snack/hangout place), she told me she had just applied for a job. We ended up working together at The Club, and have been friends ever since.

Even though Suzie had only known me for a few months, her note was already reminding me in that I shouldn’t be drinking anymore. And even though I had just gotten back from rehab, I still wasn’t ready to stop. She also mentions the David Letterman t-shirt I got her when I went to a viewing of the show in December of 1993 (my friend Tim and I went thanks to tickets my friend Patrick gave us…awesome time!). My only hope is that one day some college student will refer to wearing a Dave McGrath t-shirt as “thrilling”. We’ll see how that goes…

Thanks, Suzie, for letting me post this and for being such a great friend over the years!

Letter from a BC Student (Sophomore Year)

My sophomore year at BC, I was in the middle of my two-year long struggle with drinking. I also was still adjusting to post-cancer life and all of the BC ladies that I encountered. Poetry was the best way I could express myself when I dealt with cancer, drinking, and women. It usually ended with me either hearing or reading something like this:

I did deal with rejection a lot those first few years at BC. And wouldn't you know it? Drinking was not a healthy way to deal with that rejection. It made me feel worse and I'm sure made me less desirable to the BC girls and people in general.

Today is Superbowl Sunday. On Superbowl Sunday my sophomore year in college, I was at McLean's trying to get help for my drinking and emotional issues. When I was there, I was telling one of the doctors about my struggles with cancer, drinking, and women. I will never forget his response: "Well, that definitely sounds like a recipe that will put you in a place like this."

I'm glad to say that I've gotten over the drinking and rejections, and will be watching the Superbowl with friends at a home instead of hospital. Still doing my best to fight cancer...