Rejection Slip Party Overwhelmingly Accepted!

Hey all,

A dozen Pencils! members watched their frustrations, angers and grievances go up in smoke at the 3rd Annual REJECT-A-RAMA held Sat. Feb. 10 at Al's. For those of you who missed it, it was a GREAT time and let's hope next year's event is even bigger! Here's a brief overview of some of the fun we had. TO SEE PHOTOS, VISIT WWW.PENCILSWRITINGWORKHOP.COM's Pencils! Scrapbook.

First, a MYSTERIOUS box of cookies showed up on Al's doorstep before the party. A bunch of wild stories as to how it got there ensued, but in the end, I found out a few days later THEY WERE FROM YVONNE, who couldn't attend at the last minute. THANKS SO MUCH, YVONNE!! THEY WERE YUMMY!!

Kaye ranted about certain editors that really pissed her off, including one that took AN ENTIRE YEAR?? A WHOLE F'N YEAR?? to respond (which was fine, because she sold the story elsewhere in the meantime); Vance griped about the fact that a certain editor sent him a rejection -- with sloppy typing and only on a half-sheet of paper! God, how disrespectful can you BE??; Kathryn bitched about the difficulty of finding markets for her work; Joyce had one rejection from a certain review ("Chattahoochee sounds like something you get from a dirty toilet seat!" -- AL), and the crowner on the night was Jerry, who read his only rejection thus-far -- a Pencils! e-mail he received in error (Kaye's bad and another story for another time, but WOW, that was truly HYSTERICALLY FUNNY!)

Kaye handed out Chocolate playing cards (for luck in the coming year, of course) and blank charts she made up for submissions tracking. The night finished out with a presentation of a few positive rejections, in which the editors were friendly or took time to comment.

And, when all was said and done, I can't even count how many bottles of wine we all consumed. And Jerry, I apologize forever that I forgot to pick up the diet soda. That's usually a trick I definitely don't miss.

Happy writing, and, as always, SEND OUT YOUR SHIT!!