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 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?

Rejection Letter from McIntosh and Otis (2000), Tickets to Danu (2002) and Irish Festival (2004)

I knew I wanted to scan something related to St. Patrick’s Day for this blog, but when I saw the date on this rejection letter I thought I would include it too.

As you may have seen in previous posts, I haven’t been a stranger to rejection over the years. In addition to this letter from McIntosh and Otis, I received rejection letters from Henry Morrison, the Boston College Stylus, and the Massachusetts Film Office – to name a few more. They’re all just motivation to make me write and work until I get agencies sending me letters with offers – which I know will happen eventually.

Anyway, on to the Irish scans. If you like traditional Irish music and haven’t heard of Danu, I urge you to check them out. They are my favorite traditional Irish band, and amazing to see live. You can look and listen to a few clips at my Danu t-shirt blog from last year, and read more about the band here. Looking at their tour dates makes me wish I could teleport to Roanoke, VA for a couple hours tomorrow night.

One of my favorite non-St. Patrick’s Day traditions every year is to go to the Irish Festival put on by the Irish Cultural Center of New England in Canton, MA. I think the price may have gone up since 2004, but you always get plenty of music, entertainment, and friendly people to meet! But the ICC, is not just about this Festival. If you go to the website, you’ll see they offer classes, sports, a Children’s Celtic Camp, a golf tournament, and other ways to connect to Irish Culture – and who doesn’t want to connect to Ireland?

Massachusetts Film Office Rejection Letter (9/1/00)

It was 11 years ago that I completed my first script. I called it TRAGIC COMIC, and it was based on my life from the ages of 14-20. It dealt with the 1986 World Series, my Crohn’s Disease, brain cancer, and struggles with drinking. I started writing it when I was a sophomore in college, but didn’t have a computer and script writing software to start typing it until the fall of 1999.

Back then, the Massachusetts Film Office had an annual script writing contest to promote Massachusetts as a location for filming. The only criteria for entering was that the script had to have a certain percentage of Mass locations. Since mine was 100% Massachusetts, I thought it would be perfect for this contest. The judges, however, had different opinions:

Since completing TRAGIC COMIC, I have since written 5 more scripts. I wrote 2 Simpsons scripts, a Family Guy script, and 2 more original scripts. I think it’s time TC gets a rewrite, overhaul, and update. More on that later…

Rejection Letter from Boston College Stylus (4/6/94)

At the end of my freshman year of college, my English teacher read some of my poems and suggested I submit some of them to The Stylus at BC. I did my sophomore year, but didn’t quite get the results I wanted:

All of my dorm buddies had my back, though. They all thought it was crap that I didn’t get published, and were ready to “protest” with me. When the Stylus Spring ’94 came out, I took a bunch of copies back to the dorm, ready to shred them ritualistically in front of my supporters. One of my peers took it a step further (Roncalli Hall was not known for having the highest GPA that year), and burned them in the wastebasket. The fire alarm went off, but no firefighters were needed. It was awesome.

Still, I kept writing poems and used the rejection as fuel. Since, I’ve published four volumes of poetry: Poems from a Tragic Comic: Surviving cancer, drinking, and women, Poetry Volume II: Swirls of the World and More on the Flavory Girls, III Sides to Every Poem, and Episode IV Play: 40 Selected Poems. Thanks to all those who have inspired and/or been supportive of my poetry over the years!