Being rejected can be a badge of honor: getting shot down by the most beautiful girl in school, flunking the Scientology personality test or that time you, despite your master’s degree, couldn’t get hired at Barnes and Noble. A new reading series at Halyards adds one more to the list: getting rejected from The New Yorker. The New Yorker Rejects series wants your short fiction to be read aloud by an actor at upcoming events at the Gowanus bar and published in a biannual edition. The New Yorker is a high bar to set, but organizer Beth Kuster tells us that should inspire writers:

“Writers need to stop being intimidated by that,” she tells us. “It takes courage to be a writer and to risk rejection, but if you don’t send out your stuff, you’ll never get published and get your voice and viewpoint out into the world. Besides, every rejection brings you one step closer to being published, especially if you try to improve your craft each time.”

So is this the encouragement you need to reach for the literary golden ring? Halyard challenges writers to draft a funny, light-hearted or feel-good story,  e-mail it to the New Yorker. Then, if they don’t dig it, send it in PDF format to beth.halyards@gmail.com with the subject line, “My New Yorker Reject is attached.”