Nathan Bransford - The Forums

Hi! I know it's been a while since I posted or even responded to any posts. It has been a BUSY summer and I've been working on posthumously publishing my grandpa's books as well as editing my own and trying to read some books before summer ends and it's back to school. I now blog only once a week and wanted to share last week's post with you since we are all writers here and have dealt with rejection before. Without further ado:

Going through My Grandpa's Letters, which are filled with information about books and writing, I found this one to Paula L.Silici. Here is a small excerpt about rejection, something he was all too familiar with as a writer.

"I am so thankful that your magazine told me about Book TV on what here is channel 99 in this area and is on on weekends. I watch it all of the time. The man who did an biography of President Reagon said that what is needed is a rejection of a rejection slip. How about this:

“Thank you for your rejection slip. I have reviewed it carefully and am sorry to say that it is not for me. But I do wish you luck in placing it elsewhere.”

I never realized until after reading Grandpa's Letters just how much in common we had when it comes to writing. Dealing with the ups and downs inherent in this business. Including being rejected, which is never fun, but there's no point in dwelling on it. Grandpa never dwelled on rejection and was ready to ship out his manuscript to the next publisher when one was returned.

I will post more from My Grandpa's Letters as the subject sees fit. You can read more about him at http://carlwillmott.blogspot.com or on my blog (link below) and buy his book THE LAST GREAT CHIEF on Kindle (link on blogs).

I certainly found this post humorous. Thanks for posting it!

washingtonwriter1968 wrote:I certainly found this post humorous. Thanks for posting it!

Thanks! Glad you liked it!

An apocryphal rejection letter purportedly from a Chinese economic journal;

"We have read your manuscript with boundless delight. If we were to publish your paper, it would be impossible for us to publish any work of lower standard. And as it is unthinkable that in the next thousand years we shall see its equal, we are, to our regret, compelled to return your divine composition, and to beg you a thousand times to overlook our short sight and timidity."

Source University of Michigan Web site
http://www.umich.edu/~psycours/360/lec_10/tsld006.htm

Hahaha. That's a great one Polymath!

I love it!

Merging Grandpa's rejection rejection letter and Chinese economic journal rejection letter;

We have read your journal with boundless delight. If you were to publish our paper, it would be unthinkable for you to publish any work of comparable standard. And though it is unlikley that in the next thousand years you shall see its equal, we are, to our remorse, compelled to withdraw our divine composition, and to beg you a thousand times to overlook our insight and temerity.

polymath wrote:Merging Grandpa's rejection rejection letter and Chinese economic journal rejection letter;

We have read your journal with boundless delight. If you were to publish our paper, it would be unthinkable for you to publish any work of comparable standard. And though it is unlikley that in the next thousand years you shall see its equal, we are, to our remorse, compelled to withdraw our divine composition, and to beg you a thousand times to overlook our insight and temerity.

That one is simply the best POLYMATH

Glad you got a kick out those, washingtonwriter1968, as I did from danielle100's grandpa's.

Rewriting another's writing is a noble and ancient writing practice, at least as ancient as the Sophosists. One of the progymnasmata exercises from the ancients is to recast a narrative by preserving the main theme but in a different voice, or a different theme in the same voice. I attempted same voice, similar theme, with enhancing a larger theme. I first was assigned a similar exercise in eighth grade: take a widely known pop culture reference and spoof it, riff it, parody it. The underlying purposes were to begin the journey toward realizing one's voice and learning craft. The very purposes of the progymnasmata exercises.

"The 14 Progymnasmata
Similar progymnasmata are grouped together. The exercises are in general sequential.
Fable
Narrative
Chreia
Proverb
Refutation
Confirmation
Commonplace
Encomium
Vituperation
Comparison
Impersonation
Description
Thesis or Theme
Defend / Attack a Law"
From the Silva Rhetoricae hosted by BYU.
http://humanities.byu.edu/rhetoric/Peda ... asmata.htm