Ah. Rejection.
I got eight in the month of October (and one acceptance!). It was a pretty good month.
The first few times I sent my work out into the wilds of the publishing world, when I was a mere whippersnapper of twenty or thirty years, I pinned a lot of hopes on the results. I would wait anxiously, checking the mail multiple times a day. I didn't create new work while I waited. When my poems (I was mostly a poet then), came back with broken wings and rejection notes, I took it to heart. I doubted the value of my own work. Each rejection stung.
When I reinvented myself as a fiction writer as I began my forties, it all began again in new markets. But, you know, it's less painful this time. Maybe it's the genre, maybe it's my age, maybe it's just time and experience, but, these days, when my work comes back rejected, it just doesn't hurt like it used to.
I think it's in my attitude about the work. These days, I don't wait watching the mail. I send my work out there. Then, I turn back to my computer and write something else. I don't invest my heart in the opinion of this or that editor. After all, that work is done. I'm worried about the new thing I'm creating.
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I've also learned to value the small victory. A very long wait time must mean that they spent a lot of time considering it, right? (Humor me). A quick rejection means that I can turn it around that much more quickly and find the venue that will love my words. A personal rejection with a helpful comment glows like a diamond in a pile of dark coal form rejections. It promises future victory.
So, here's to rejection! It's the first step towards acceptance!
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This posting is part of the Insecure Writers Support Group blog hop. To check out other posts by writers in a variety of places in their careers, check out the participant list. This group is one of the most open and supportive groups of people I have ever been associated with. You should check them out!
I feel just like you. I do think age has something to do with it but only in the sense that we're able to look at things with a more practiced eye. It still hurts, but we've learned to limit our expectations and move on knowing that last rejection was just one more on the way to an acceptance. Good luck!
ReplyDeleteThanks, Lisa. Good luck to you, too!
DeleteGreat attitude, Samantha! Even the IRS sees rejection as proof of being a professional. Was it Edison who said "Fail 99 times . . ."
ReplyDeleteAnd this year will be my first year filing as a "writer" on my taxes :-)
DeleteThat you're bravely sending things out ups your chances of acceptances a million-fold over those too scared to try. Keep up the good work!
ReplyDeleteThat's what I tell myself every time. No one can love it if no one reads it!
DeleteI hear ya. I'm dealing much better with rejections this time around too. They used to crush me. I'm actually almost grateful for them now, because I've discovered something much worse--people who don't reply at all! Even those who've requested submissions. That is the worst.
ReplyDeleteGood luck in your future submissions. Each rejection is one step closer to an acceptance, or so I've been told.
Glad you're taking it in stride! Rejections make the acceptance letter all the sweeter!
ReplyDeleteThey do! When my novel got accepted by Curiosity Quills, I was tempted to forward the acceptance to everyone that had rejected it, saying, "Look! *They* like it." Na-na-nah. :-)
DeleteI'm on the query-go-round with a novel myself and rejections are easier this time. To me, it just means the agent didn't get excited enough about the book or they don't have an editor in mind for the project. It's all about finding the right agent, not just any agent. Plus I'm starting another project, like you, instead of checking for responses.
ReplyDeleteThere are so many publishing outlets these days, that it does feel like it's just a matter of finding the right one for your work. I found my Mr. Right in love, so I can do it for all my books, too, right?
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