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Rejection
Dealing with Rejection and Moving OnRejection is a fact of the writing life. Accept that you will be rejected. Don't stop writing as a way to protect yourself from the fear of rejection. Everyone, no matter who they are, what awards they've received, regardless of the size of their advance, or how many times they've been published, start each day with a blank computer screen. Accept the fact that magazine and book publisher received more queries and proposals than can be contracted and published. Rejection can happen because of many reasons. The manuscript may be wrong for that house, they may have done a similar book or have one already under contract, or it could wrong for that editor. It may not match the guidelines. The market may be too small or the subject too broad. There may be spelling, grammar, or punctuation errors. The story line may be weak or the characters unbelievable. Your dialogue may be poorly written. The takeaway value may be weak. The focus may be too wide.
When I told my new college roommate I wanted to be a writer she asked me to show her a rejection slip. “You're not a real writer without any,” she said. All semester whenever I mentioned the creative writing class I was taking or the topic of what we'd do after graduation came up she kept on nagging me. “Where are your rejection slips? You're not a real writer until you have some.” Finally just to shut her up I sent something to a market I knew was totally inappropriate - I think it was a children's story to Times Magazine - and showed the inevitable rejection slip to my roommate. It worked. She stopped nagging. But I was still afraid my writing wasn't good enough to get published, so I gave up the idea of becoming a professional in the field and found an unrelated job after graduation. Finally, about 25 years later I decided to try to get some of my writing published. My first rejection slip reminded me of that irritating college roommate and I realized she had been right. The rejection slip proved I was really a writer. Since then I've been published often but I still sometimes get rejections. They don't really bother me because there are usually other manuscripts out there waiting for a response and, thanks in part to my roommate, I know the rejection slips are just part of the job. Use the rejection as a motivator to write more, and write better. Do not to use a rejection as a reason to whine, complain, and not to write. Rejection Resources on the WebRejection Collection - A web site dealing with rejection as a writer. | |||||||
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Recommended Books
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Pikes Peak Writers Conference April 29 - May 1, 2011 Faculty for suspense, mystery, horror, thriller, romance, western, inspirational,, Christian, childrens, YA, literary fiction, and more |