I was listening to the Diane Rehm show in October 2002 while I was a courier for Crye-Leike Realty in Memphis and I heard Carolyn See discussing strategies for writers. It was a wonderful mixture of suck it up and get a thicker skin and hand some of that rejection back to them. I started by making a stamp that said "I'm sorry I cannot accept your rejection at this time" which I stamped all of the rejection letters I'd kept and sent them back to the institutions I'd received them from including my home team University of Memphis where I was in graduate school at the time. I'd submitted a proposal for their wonderful Art Lab space. Though these stamps were fun to talk about I also felt a little too good(in a bad way) about sending them back(though I still do when I get rejection letters). I also remeber hearing Ms. See say you should tell someone whose work you admire thank you on a regular basis. So I began making trophies for different individuals I admire. I'm not sure why it took me so long but in 2010 I sent one to Carolyn See and she was delighted. Thanks again Carolyn See.
