Another Use For Rejection Letters

We've all heard stories about writers who've received enough rejection letters from publishing houses to paper a wall. Well, there's a better use for these carriers of bad news.

A useful suggestion was found in an article by a very prolific writer named George Haddad-Garcia. He wrote an article for Writer's Digest (July 1982) that listed thirty cost-cutting ideas for writers. The one I especially liked was number ten: "Scratch pads are often free at hotels and motels; don't overlook these, either. The backs of rejection letters can be used for scratch, jotting down ideas, notes, phone numbers, or for rough drafts."

So those annoying rejection letters not only can make you more determined to succeed as a writer, they can be turned over to the blank side and used to help you create the next award-winning novel or short story collection (you hope).

Literary Epitaphs

In December 2021, I went through a pile of miscellaneous papers that were on top of the microwave oven. While doing so I found one paper on which I had written the epitaphs engraved on the headstones of two black gay writers I knew. Both of them died from AIDS.

Dave Frechette--"I Regret Nothing."

Donald Woods--"Forever In God's Loving Care."

Science Fiction Writer Samuel R. Delany On His Story Sources

Samuel R. Delany, the award-winning author of many science fiction books, and who recently celebrated his 80th birthday, had this to say to T: The New York Times Style Magazine in its Culture issue (April 24, 2022) about sources for his fiction:

"When I'm writing, I think about the paper in front of me and the story I'm trying to tell. I'm very much aware that almost any idea can be sourced from somewhere, and they're as liable to be from other books as they are from things in life."

A Prayer For Writers

The following prayer is from a pamphlet published by The Christophers, a New York City-based inspirational group that was founded in 1949 by Father James Keller (1900-1977), a Roman Catholic priest, who was the son of an Irish immigrant father. According to a Wikipedia article, "The Christophers preach a doctrine of religious tolerance and intend their publications to be generally relevant to those of all faiths."

Their motto is "It's better to light one candle than to curse the darkness." The motto, states Wikipedia, "reflects the philosophical orientation of the organization, which emphasizes positive action to create a better world in such various arenas as political honesty, caring for the sick and poor, and dealing with substance abuse." The origin of the motto, notes Wiktionary, is a proverb (possibly Chinese) and means that "in the face of hopelessness and discontent, it is more worthwhile to do some good, however small, in response, than to complain about the situation."

"Writing is a lonely business, Lord.

A Writer sits at a typewriter [,computer,] or with pen in hand--

and often the page remains blank.

Touch their fingertips 

and jog their brains

with a spark of your creative power.

Gently direct them

to communicate more for truth than profit

to give us the highest aspirations

of the human spirit

while not flinching from our tragic flaws.

Help them

to share with us

moments of adventure

instants of joy

hours of reflection.

Don't let them down, Lord.

Or let them disappoint You.

In print, or on the stage, or on the airwaves

their words shape our very lives, images, or distortions of the

Word that was 'in the beginning.'

Amen."

 

Magazines For Writers Are Finally Acknowledging Writers Of Color

From the 1970s to the early 2000s, when I subscribed to Writer's Digest magazine, the only black writer I can remember seeing on the cover was Alex Haley of Roots fame. In all that time I never saw any articles about black writers or other writers of color in its pages. It was as if  other writers of color like John A. Williams, Amy Tan, Alice Walker, Toni Morrison, and Ernest Gaines didn't exist.

I recently resumed my subscription to Writer's Digest (no longer a monthly; it is now published every two months). I was delighted to see writers of color like Zadie Smith and Viet Thanh Nguyen featured as well as an article about Patrice Caldwell, a young black literary agent.

Finally, Writer's Digest and other writing magazines have ceased ignoring writers, editors, and literary agents of color in their pages.

New Names Added To The Literary Canon

In one of the display windows of the bookstore called Book Culture, located on West 112th Street, near Broadway, in Manhattan, was this printed message situated among eleven books:

"Homer Herodotus Sophocles Plato Aristotle Demosthenes Cicero Virgil

Angelou Anzaldua Chang Hurston Morrison Revalthi Shange Silko

You've seen the new names on Butler Library [on the campus of nearby Columbia University], now check out their books!"

Among the books on display were Love: A Novel by Toni Morrison, Gardens in the Dunes by Leslie Marmon Silko, Mules and Men by Zora Neale Hurston, and Even the Stars Look Lonesome by Maya Angelou.


Note: Today is National Do Something Nice Day.