Handling the Big Rejection
Q: How do you handle rejection?
A: Before or after I stick pins in my eyes and swallow hot coals? No, of course I don’t do that. I usually shave my head, exchange my clothes for sackcloth, and spend days of solitary isolation sitting on a heap of ashes.
Okay, seriously, unfortunately, rejection is a real part of writing. When I started submitting my work to editors and agents I was told over and over by wizened veterans of the trade, “You better have thick skin.”
But thick skin doesn’t even protect from the sting of rejection. Maybe tank armor would work. I’ve been at this for ten years now and have gotten more rejections than Paris Hilton has had boyfriends and I can honestly say that each one still hurts.
Case in point. Earlier this month I sent my editor at my publisher a proposal and manuscript for a new novel I wrote. I loved the story, the characters, the writing . . . all of it. Last week I got an email from her saying they weren’t enthused and were passing on it. Ouch. Rejection in all its grotesque glory. At first I was devastated. Hurt. Frustrated. Even started stoking some coals.
But you know what? After reading her reasons for why they were rejecting it, I understood her point of view and even agreed with it (some of it). Rejection happens. I was fortunate, though. At least I got the reasons for the rejection. Most of the time you don’t even get that.
Understand this, unless an editor or agent says, “You’re writing stinks. Find another line of work,” don’t assume the reason for the rejection is because you’re writing stinks and you should find another line of work. There are reasons as varied and diverse as Congress why your writing was rejected. Some valid, some not so valid, but that’s the business.
So what to do? Well, the easy thing is to go into deep depression, swear to never write another word as long as you breathe air, and contemplate life as a forest-dwelling hermit. But the right thing to do is to pick yourself up, dust off, sit your tail end in a chair, and keep writing.
