At one of my writing groups, there is an ongoing discussion about rejections. It’s fascinating — and a little disturbing — because the general consensus is to get sad or upset about rejections. It’s never been my response. Most of y’all know I’ve been seriously writing with an intent to publish since I was eight; when I was thirteen, I started lurking on writer’s boards like Speculations’ Rumor Mill (SF/F, not Romance). The boards were frequented by professional writers who had been submitting and selling for years, and their attitudes toward rejection were: Send it on elsewhere.
There are plenty of potential publications for most stories — but, man, it sucks when you write something that has a limited market and you can’t manage to sell it. (Oh well. Those become free promo reads, at least for me. *grins*)
I submitted my first story when I was fourteen, to CatFancy’s short story contest. Needless to say, I didn’t win. (Partly, it was because my writing sucked, but they picked gag-me-with-a-porcupine cutesy stories, and mine was very dark.) Disappointed? Yup. Miffed at what they did pick for winners? Yup — but I would’ve been even if I hadn’t entered. 
Not too long after, I started submitting more of my stories to science fiction and fantasy magazines, and summarily continued to get rejected. I’m sure they were very quick decisions on the part of the editors, because I hadn’t yet joined a critique group and was still making all the n00b mistakes in the book! But I kept writing and submitting, even as the rejection pile reached upwards of 50.
I am nothing if not persistent.
I didn’t and don’t look at the rejections as “failures.” If anything, they were like badges of honor. Proof that I’d kept trying and not given up when so many do. And I kept at it until I got published — and still got rejections afterward. Everyone gets them, unless you don’t send your work out. Some are disappointing, especially when it was a market that you’d really hoped to break. Keep trying. If you are learning and growing as a writer, then eventually you will succeed.
How do you handle rejections?
November 28th, 2007 at 11:54 am
Some rejection I handle pretty well. Some I don’t.
I hate form letters. But for me, in publishing, there are several forms of rejection.
There’s the dreaded Form Letters that come implying “You’re not even worth a REAL rejection.”
Then there’s the detailed rejections–”Here’s how much you suck”
And then there’s reader rejection, if you’re someone with less than stellar sales.
LOL.
How do I handle it? Sub elsewhere, keep promoting, improve my technique and keep writing.
Nothing else works better for me than continuing to write.
November 28th, 2007 at 6:36 pm
Rejections suck big. When I get one I give myself 24 hours to sulk, and whine, and go for a walk, or cry. It doesn’t have to last all 24 hours, but I better be over it by that time tomorrow. There is nothing you can do when you get a no, but move on to someone else who can give you a yes.
November 28th, 2007 at 11:34 pm
I handle rejections much the same way you do, Nonny-after the first few, anyway, which did hurt. I give myself a few minutes to feel bad, then I move on-write something else, submit elsewhere. What’s the point in dwelling on the rejection when we have no control over it, anyway? We can try to learn from it (if there is any feedback to learn from), and then we just have to keep writing.
It’s something we all have to go through at some point in our careers, so I think we have to come to some sort of acceptance.
November 29th, 2007 at 10:12 am
Hell, I’m worse about anticipating that rejection. I know it’s coming when my editor has had it for a certain amount of time, (or, I think I know.) However, said editor gives me kickass suggestions, so the R doesn’t hurt that bad.
Rejections outside those, though (agents, other pubs)…they make me wallow in the chocolate pit awhile before moving on to the next thing. But I do move on, for good or ill.
November 30th, 2007 at 5:57 am
My current favorite thing to do is to write down the key comments. Example? My latest and greatest R was said “I found the writing strong and the characters interesting. The plot, however, has become somewhat of a genre cliché.” Then I make sure to use that phrase whenever I talk…”well, if it wasn’t so cliche!” which somehow seems to pull the “power to disturb” out of it. LOL
The key, of course, is to remind myself to *watch for and avoid* anything “cliche” in the future. Oh, and yeah, to send it out again. One person’s cliche is another person’s treasure…
Keep on writing, ya’ll!