Friday, January 25, 2013

First Rejections of the Year

How many rejections can you handle before you break down? Most of the time, seasoned writers let it hit them and then brush it off, like a baseball barely tapping you when you're up to bat.  But sometimes, it impacts with us in just the right way, and we're down with a concussion or, at the very least, a nasty bruise.  The writers who tell you they NEVER get down about their writing are liars.

Well, I have received six rejections in a two-to-three week period.  It's starting to wear me down.  Just as I am supposed to be surging forward with renewed vigor for the new year, I am flagging.  It doesn't help that some of these were ones I really wanted (but, then again, they all are).

I find myself hesitating about submitting.  I linger a little longer over e-mails, revise a poem that doesn't NEED it, measure my carpet fibers to see if they have grown out a bit...  OK, not the last one.

Maybe I am just going to tear into a new project and forget submissions for a while.  Then again, maybe not.  There are deadlines looming.  And, possibly, one of them is waiting on me, for my voice.  Perhaps I am only a split atom's width away from being the next big thing.

  A girl can dream, right?

5 comments:

  1. Hang in there. Take a short break if you need to, but jump back into it with renewed determination. Rejection really can wear you down, but perseverance will you see you through :) Keep smiling.

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  2. I know this is much easier said than done but do NOT give up. You have a great voice as a writer and it's only a matter of time and persistence. Rejections will always hurt but they seem to just be an inevitable part of the process. Every writer has been rejected multiple times. Don't let it bring you down. If you need to take some time away, then do that and come back refreshed.

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  3. There will be no success if we stop putting ourselves out there. I do find that continuing to write, to feel like I'm getting ready to submit something else, makes the rejection hurt less..

    Keep going!

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  4. Rejections are hard, but like all bad things they fade with time. Just keep plugging on :)

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  5. Thank you, ladies! I know it's tough. I'm not normally as upset by it but... yeah. I have received two more rejections as of this comment.

    But I've also started a new project (or three) and it brings me back to what I love in the first place, writing!

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