Dealing With Rejection

Beginning writers often become derailed when they meet with "failure" in their writing efforts. This may mean that a submission was soundly rejected by an editor, a report or paper was given a low grade by an instructor, or a trusted reader such as a friend or loved one has indicated the writing is not very good. This kind of negative feedback can send some writers spiralling into despair. When this happens, inspiration and commitment are lost and very little if any writing gets done. So what should you do if you meet up with rejection? Do what the pros do, even if you're not one yet. Keep writing. Even in the face of discouragement, even when being told you shouldn't quit your day job, keep writing. Take the rejection as what it is - a single rejection of a single effort - not a reflection of your body of work, and certainly not a reflection of you as a person. Rejection is just a lesson. Take the rejection to heart only in the sense that you will learn from it whatever useful lessons you can learn and then toss it aside. Start on the next writing project right away without giving the last rejection another thought. By using rejection as a tool rather than a roadblock and by continually immersing yourself in new work, you will find that the rejections get fewer and sting less and your writing grows in leaps and bounds.