I’m taking the week off from blogging (although I’ll probably still lurk around your blogs). To keep the awesomeness at full, guest bloggers are taking over my blog on Sunday, Tuesday and Friday. And now, on with the show…
Please welcome Crystal Cheverie.
Hello to all you lovely people! *waves* I want to thank Jeanne for letting me take over her blog for a day and giving me the opportunity to get to meet some new faces. Thank you, Jeanne, and happy birthday! Now, on with the show…
So, did you know the Chinese use the same word for crisis as they do for opportunity? Neither did I until I watched The Simpsons (according to Homer, the word is “crisitunity.” Somehow, I’m not too sure about that…). At any rate, it’s a very positive way of thinking about the little (and big) setbacks that Life can throw our way. Setbacks like getting a flash fiction piece I’d submitted back in June rejected last week.
We writers have to put up with rejection a lot. No, let’s make that A LOT. Not gonna front – it doesn’t feel good. It hurts. It can even make people opt out of the scribe gig altogether.
The thing is, though, rejection is a natural part of life. You get dumped for another man (or woman) when your significant other fails to realize your innate awesomeness. Your stellar job interview didn’t land you that dream job. A promotion that should’ve gone to you… well, you get what I’m saying.
So, yes, rejection is normal, especially in the literary world. There’s no way to escape it. So what’s a writer to do? After last week’s nasty surprise, I have made a decision. I am not going to cower in fear of rejection anymore. I’m going to do my best to stand tall and meet that bugger head-on by continuing to submit, submit and submit. After all, as Michelle Pfeiffer’s character said in the movie Dangerous Minds, “sometimes it takes a lot of wrong answers to get to the right one.” It helps, too, that I’ve come to believe each “thanks but no thanks” can be helpful if you allow it to be. Each time you get rejected is a chance to build up that thick skin every writer needs. It can remind you just how badly you want to see your work in print and therefore spur you on to work harder to reach that goal. A rejection can even help you improve your story (especially true if you’re lucky enough to get feedback from the editor) or simply improve your story’s odds by finding a publication that would be a better fit.
Rejection, in other words, is a fantastic opportunity for growth and strength.
Which is good to know, because I’m going to need to remind myself of all of the above quite a bit over the next couple of years.
Thanks for reading!
Over to you, my fellow writers – how do you deal with rejection?
