When I started sending stories out into the world, I got a lot of rejection letters back.
Most of the rejections were just form letters.
But every once in awhile, someone would include a personal note.
It is impossible to overstate just how much those notes from a real, live person mattered.
They gave me courage, hope.
They made me feel like a writer.
So, in the (never-ending) process of sorting through things in the basement, I found this missive from C. Michael Curtis at the Atlantic Monthly.
Reading it now, twenty years later, it still fills me with hope and courage, and also gratitude to Mr. Curtis for taking the time to write to me.
He ends his letter with the words “Will you try us again?”
I love that.
I will try again.
All you writers out there: keep going. Do not give up. Try again.

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