- Formerly known as "Writers Manual" -

The Writer Gazette welcomes you!
Look to us for all your writing resource needs!

The Spiritual Side of Writing
by Joyce Lavene

"Rejection"

The reward for having enough guts to send your work out the door is rejection.

Sometimes, it seems that way, doesn’t it? You might encounter a hundred rejections before you ever have a sale. How do you keep going through the process? How do you sit back down and start over each time?

I could tell you to ignore rejections. That they’re just bumps along the way. But they’re stinging, biting bumps that take our breath away and make it harder and harder to be creative. That terrible little voice in the back of our minds begins whispering that nothing we ever do will be good enough. That what we’re working on will ultimately be rejected too, so what’s the use?

I could tell you to take lots of hot baths and eat a lot of chocolate but this is only going to make you feel better for a short time. And it’s not going to keep you going. Writers at every level, published or not, have to deal with rejection.

Instead I’ll tell you that rejection is a fact of life for many people in many different professions. If you’re in sales of any kind, you know what I mean. You have to suffer through rejections every day to encounter sales.

All successful salespeople know that sales are in the numbers. The law of averages stands that for every so many cold calls you make, you will get X number of sales. For every group of referrals you follow up on, you will get so many sales.

So, let’s approach rejection scientifically instead of emotionally. You have a product to sell. Your book/short story/play. You know, or should know, your market. A cold call is a contact with a person you’ve never spoken with who may or may not need your product i.e. a publisher/editor. Keep a record of how many cold calls your manuscript makes.

If you get a nice note or a more personal rejection with suggestions, your next manuscript goes in a little warmer. That should increase your odds of selling. Again, take note of it. If you get a form letter or a mean spirited criticism of your work, get yourself a dartboard and don’t send to that publisher/editor again.

Remember, it’s not personal for them. They either like your work or they don’t, much like you buy one brand of detergent over another. Above all, keep writing! The odds of getting published increase with everything you write.

It’s up to you to beat the odds.

SHARE YOUR IDEAS WITH ME ON THIS AND UPCOMING COLUMNS! joyce@joyceandjimlavene.com

Joyce Lavene writes a little bit of everything with her husband/partner, Jim. They live in North Carolina with their three grown children and two grandchildren. She welcomes visitors to her websites:

http://www.joyceandjimlavene.com
http://www.sharynhowardmysteries.com