[Alex Stein]

Hi Mr. Korman,

you probably don't remember me but my name is Alex Stein and I won the Scopes Write-A-Story contest that you judged a few years ago (https://scope.scholastic.com/pages/ideabook/2018/06/The-Winner-of-Scopes-Write-A-Story-Contest-Is.html). I'm writing to you for some advice, as I feel like I've hit a wall in terms of my writing ability. I recently applied for a position writing for my school newspaper, and I was quickly rejected without much reasoning while some of my friends whose applications were worse quality (their words not mine) and had less experience than me got interviews. While I am going to email the teacher that runs the newspaper and request some more feedback on my application, in case it wasn't a mistake and I don't get in, how would you cope with the feeling of rejection? As silly as it sounds, I feel like I'm very qualified to be a writer for the newspaper and writing is a skill I pride myself on so I don't know how I'd handle being rejected.

Thanks so much for your time,

Alex

[Gordon Korman]

Hi, Alex,

I  do remember the contest, and judging the winner.

Your obvious move is to contact the teacher/faculty advisor and question what happened. After all, this is not the New York Times, and any registered student should be allowed to take part in any school activity. 

I'm not sure if this is rejection or just a busy editor with enough reporters already, but I think you're owed an explanation, at the very least an interview, and certainly a little more politeness. As for a feeling of rejection, don't allow yourself to react that way. Keep writing. Hone your craft. You're the best judge of what you can do.

Hang in there!                                                                    -----Gordon Korman-----

[Alex Stein]

I took your advice and emailed the teachers! One responded and said that there was a record number of applicants, and they could only accept 10 (weird but okay). She said the main issues were that my opinion piece wasn\'t original enough (while the topic had been written about before, I feel like my argument was quite different than any I\'d seen before) and that the other piece I submitted was a creative writing piece while it should\'ve been analytical. However, when I talked to the other faculty advisor a few days ago, he said it was fine to submit a creative writing place so I\'m kinda confused and disappointed. I\'m going to try to talk to the teachers in person to get an interview because I feel like it was kinda stolen from me LOL. Thanks for all of your help, please let me know if you have any other advice.

-Alex

[Gordon Korman]

Alex, I think you're handling it in a very adult and civilized manner. And at least your comments are getting attention. As I said before, hang in there, and have faith in yourself and what you write.                                                ---GK---

[skibidigooner]

Hello, Mr. Korman! I hope you are having a great day. Do you have any advice on inspiring people to never give up?

Waiting in reply, skibidigooner

Hi, Skib,

Thanks for posting. 

I always remember being told as a kid that Davy Crockett once said, "Be sure you're right, then go ahead."  It seemed like good advice then, and it's still good advice today. I don't know if you're talking about yourself or not but, if you are, singleness of purpose is the answer. Be sure of what you're after, and then go for it. If you prevail, good for you; if you don't, there's always tomorrow and another challenge.

Does any of that make sense to you? I hope so.                                                  -----Gordon Korman-----