Tall And True Short Reads

Days of Gentle Rejections

Episode 34 (22 September 2021)

In these days of instant gratification, it’s hard to believe once upon a time, wanna-be writers would type and print their manuscripts, post them to publishers with a reply-paid, self-addressed envelope. And then wait and wait and wait, for an offer to publish or, more likely, a feared rejection letter.

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Days of Gentle Rejections

Show Notes

Season Two: Episode 34 (22 September 2021)

Days of Gentle Rejections is a blog post from the Tall And True writers’ website, written and narrated by Robert Fairhead.

Read the post: https://www.tallandtrue.com.au/blog/days-of-gentle-rejections

Support the podcast: https://supporter.acast.com/tall-and-true-short-reads

Buy Robert’s short story collections online:

Episode Insight

I wrote the Days of Gentle Rejections blog post in September 2017. At the time, I was going through some of my old short stories from my “purple patch” years in England, looking for writing to share on the newly launched Tall And True.

Filed with the yellowed hard copy printouts of my short stories were the rejection letters I had received for them. A mix of personalised and proforma responses, most were printed, but some, such as judge’s critiques, were handwritten. And all were gentle and often constructive in their rejections.

I wanted to share my stories and my experience as a writer on Tall And True, which is why I wrote the blog post. Sadly, nowadays, similar examples of gentle rejections are few and far between. However, I’m a regular participant in the monthly Furious Fiction writing competition run by the Australian Writers’ Centre — I’ve narrated many of my short story entries for this podcast. And while I’m yet to bask in the winner’s spotlight, I’ve always appreciated the Furious Fiction letdown emails, such as this one from June 2021:

“If you missed out on a mention this month, remember that:

  • It’s a subjective judging process, not a pass/fail thing.
  • What we’re trying to say is you didn’t fail.
  • In fact, quite the opposite – you expanded your imagination and may have sparked an even bigger or better idea from your efforts.
  • And hey, it’s free, and it’s a great way to learn, especially if you read the judges’ comments on the stories that do reach the shortlists.
  • Plus, you’ll have ANOTHER chance to try again next month. How good is that?”

As a writer, I’d say that’s a good example of a gentle rejection.

Thanks for listening to this episode of Tall And True Short Reads. You can read my short stories, blog posts and other writing at TallAndTrue.com. You can also buy my short story collections from the Amazon Kindle and Kobo online bookstores.

The next episode of Tall And True Short Reads will appear in your podcast feed shortly. In the meantime, don’t forget to check your feed for earlier episodes from Seasons One and Two. And follow or subscribe to the podcast and rate and review it via your favourite listening app. Doing so helps other listeners find us.

And finally, please support this podcast by telling your family and friends about Tall And True Short Reads and the Tall And True writers’ website.

Podcast Theme and Sound Effects

Royalty-free music from Pixabay.com: Beethoven Piano Sonata No. 15 in D major, Op. 28 ‘Pastorale’ – IV. Rondo. Allegro ma non-Troppo, performed by Karine Gilanyan.

Sound effects licensed under Creative Commons 0 from FreeSound.org:

Production Notes

Tall And True Short Reads produced using Audacity. Thanks to Josh (VoiceOverMaster) Meyer for Audacity recording tips and tricks.

Podcast episodes are recorded in Sydney, Australia, on the land of the traditional custodians of the Eora Nation.

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