10.01.2005

Shred of evidence

A cover letter in my slush pile closes with:


"You need not return this but please shred it".


I'll open my rejection letter with: get over yourself.
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11 comments:

Ric said...

as long as we're not shredding them before we read them...

10/01/2005
Bernita said...

When I read some of my old stuff I cringe with embarrassment and PRAY that it was shredded somewhere....sometimes even stuff that was published.

10/01/2005
Douglas Hoffman said...

Gentle Snarkling,

Sadly, I do not have a shredder. Instead, I used your manuscript to line the litter box that does duty for my eight cats. After it served its purpose, I combined it with the sweepings of my chicken coop and added it to the compost pile. Soon, it will be fertilizing my brussel sprouts patch, and will thus eventually leave this planet in a more enriching -- and, I'll wager, better smelling -- form.

Yours truly,

Miss Snark

How's that?

10/01/2005
Elektra said...

Note to self: never accept dinner invitation from above poster

10/01/2005
Miss Snark said...

Mr Hoffman, leaving aside the fact you've called Killer Yapp a pussy, insinuated I keep a fowl home, AND worst of all...that I like brussel sprouts,it's just dandy.

10/01/2005
roach said...

When on the rare occassion I do get a submission through the mail I do shred it after sending out my response. But that's just because I shred anything with personal information on it. There are still some writers who send out manuscripts with their social security numbers included in the cover letter!

10/02/2005
Kitty said...

Most of my letters received no response at all. Nada. Zip. Zilch. So even a f-off-and-die response would have been better, because at least I'd know that my letter was opened and read.

10/02/2005
Miss Snark said...

Even your letters with SASEs??
That's weird.

10/02/2005
Anne Elliott said...

"no response at all"

I wouldn't say most, but maybe a good 20% of my queries get no response, and I'm diligent with SASEs. I just assume they aren't looking at anything over-the-transom, and move on.

10/02/2005
Kitty said...

I wasn't querying agents, I was sending my stories to magazine editors with SASE's, and I rarely heard from them. Once Glimmer Train responded with a "not right for us but send us more," and Ms Mag sent a nice handwritten note with a about the same message. Some replied so quickly that I knew they never read a word. Many never bothered to reply at all, which is why I said that even a f-off-and-die response was better than nothing.

10/02/2005
Anonymous said...

how do you know if someone hasn't read it if you get it back in a letter? Especially with magazine stories. They can be read in at least half an hour, the long ones, right? Or did you use email?

Sorry, I'm being a nitpicker. I'm just curious... Not that you'll ever read this because I'm going through old blog posts.

12/09/2005

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