Charles Jensen | Writer

In response to my own post recently about the sometime-sting of rejection letters, I just wanted to share this little gem that I received this morning.

I received a follow-up letter from Hildra Raz regarding the Prairie Schooner Book Prize, for which I was one of 13 finalists this year. This is the second rejection letter I received–the first was kind, of course, but this one was flat out wonderful.

In this letter, Hilda congratulated me on being a finalist and thanked me for supporting Prairie Schooner by entering the contest. What was really valuable, though, was that she was kind enough to send me comments from two of the final judges.

These comments, I think, are some of the most specific and helpful revision suggestions I’ve received on the manuscript in some time—things I haven’t yet considered.

So often the manuscripts go out into the void and don’t make a sound. But this, this echo is important to me. And helpful in shaping the book to a publishable version.