3 Things to Do After a Rejection
Rejection sucks. At the time of this writing, I’ve had almost 200 of them, for short stories and my romance novel. I did get used to hearing “no” after a while, but there are still times when rejection really hurts. Times when a “yes” would be a big deal in my writing journey, or when I think I have a good chance at acceptance because my story got shortlisted or my novel was requested by an agent. Times when I get my hopes up.
But as writers, rejection is part of our everyday work. So here’s a few tips on bouncing back after a big disappointment.
Keep your perspective.
An agent or publisher has a job to do, and that means they unfortunately have to send rejection letters to some really great writers for some really great words. They simply can’t accept everything they like: their time and publication space are limited. And that’s all it is. So a rejection does not mean you are failing as a writer and should give up on your dreams. It just means you struck out with that particular project with that particular agent or publisher. Do re-evaluate if necessary: sometimes after a long string of rejections, I will rewrite a story and try again. But sometimes I have confidence in my story and decide to stick it out. Which brings us to:
Be persistent.
One of my stories took 25 tries before I finally got it in front of the right person at the right time and it finally sold. I kept having to add rows to my spreadsheet! And this is actually my go-to when I’m faced with rejection, the thing that makes me feel better fastest: send the story or novel back out again. Because then I’ve got another “maybe” to focus on, instead of that “no.” Occasionally, though, the rejection is so painful that I can’t move on so quickly. For those times, I turn to the next point:
Take time to mourn.
I have moments when I lose confidence, when I have doubts about my writing future. When I have to acknowledge the fact that certain stories may never sell, and that my novel may never find an agent, let alone a publisher. Which sucks, because I’ve put so much work into all my projects—and pinned my hopes on them.
In these cases, I need some distance before I can get my perspective back. So I put the project aside for a few days and look for distractions: a new book or movie, a daytrip to somewhere fun, spending time with family and friends. I know that eventually, this rejection won’t hurt as much and I’ll be able to get back into the swing of things. But it’s going to take some time, and that’s okay. It’s all part of the process.
Just never give up.
Further reading: Here are 4 reasons your really great story got rejected and How to publish a short story.
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