It's time for another meeting of the Insecure Writer's Support Group! This group was started by the always awesome Alex J. Cavanaugh for the purpose of providing fellow writers with a way to express their insecurities and receive support from others. This month, the co-hosts are Laura @ My Baffling Brain, Mark Koopmans, Shah Wharton, and Sheena-Kay Graham.
Be sure to check out the IWSG Website if you haven't already. It's an amazing resource for writers.
This month my insecurity has to do with rejection. All writers have to deal with some sort of rejection, and though it is a necessary part of this business, that doesn't make it easy to handle. I've been submitting a lot of short stories over the last month and a half, and I've started getting a lot of rejection letters as a result. Some of them have been the standard, run-of-the-mill "no" that tells you nothing about why the story was rejected, but one letter was so encouraging that it only inspired me to keep submitting. Still, as those rejections pile up, it can be difficult to keep your determination from wavering.
I won't lie. I've felt my confidence waver on multiple occasions over the last few weeks. It's hard to see a story you poured your heart into turned away for reasons unknown. Still, I won't let myself give up. I know the rejections aren't personal, and when a magazine is looking at hundreds, or even thousands, of submissions, a rejection doesn't automatically mean the story you submitted is bad. It's not personal, so even though the denial stings in a very personal way, I'll keep trying. I am a writer, because I can't picture myself ever giving it up.
I won't lie. I've felt my confidence waver on multiple occasions over the last few weeks. It's hard to see a story you poured your heart into turned away for reasons unknown. Still, I won't let myself give up. I know the rejections aren't personal, and when a magazine is looking at hundreds, or even thousands, of submissions, a rejection doesn't automatically mean the story you submitted is bad. It's not personal, so even though the denial stings in a very personal way, I'll keep trying. I am a writer, because I can't picture myself ever giving it up.
Sorry you've had so many rejections. They do add up but eventually they will add up to an acceptance.
ReplyDeleteAnd you've posted enough or your fiction here for us to read that I can safely say you are really good. Keep submitting!
I've never tried to publish my writing, but in college I had a list of girl I asked out...lets just say the list was rather long and the acceptance didn't happen till I was out of college. ;-)
ReplyDeleteI'm about to enter the query trenches later this month. *hug* Just gotta keep trying, right?
ReplyDeleteI hate getting those rejections that tell you "no" without offering a tiny blip of why your work was rejected, if there is something really wrong with it that you need to fix. Keep your chin up, L.G.! I know rejections are hard, but look at it as each one is bringing closer to the one who will publish your story. :)
ReplyDeleteMy kids like to remind me of how many times Harry Potter was rejected. Your finally line here is so positive and encouraging, maybe you should print it and post it around the house to remind yourself :)
ReplyDeleteI wish we didn't have to deal with rejection, but I think it's just par for the course. Just means you're part of the group!
ReplyDeleteRejection is definitely tough, LG! But when you get a short story accepted, you forget about all the rejections! I remember reading once that Louis L'Amour was rejected at least 200 times before he sold his first novel ~ and that he papered his bedroom with those rejections. I'm not sure I would have the fortitude to keep putting those letters up. Just keep plugging away, even when it feels discouraging!
ReplyDeleteI'm reading Stephen King's On Writing at the moment, and just finished a section where he said he had a nail for rejection letters, but quickly had to replace it with a giant stake and even that didn't hold all of them. It gets to the point that one only expects those kind of letters. . .but how much better that makes those occasional 'I like it!'s. And those come too--just sometimes very rare. Hang in there!
ReplyDeleteGood for you! Keep plugging along.
ReplyDeleteRejections can be so discouraging, but don't ever let them get you down. Be positive and keep writing!
ReplyDeleteNever give up! Never surrender! A little Galaxy Quest advice for you. :) Rejections can be rough, but definitely stick with it. Glad to hear there was an encouraging one in the mix.
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