Rejection

A Second Chance!

Okay, we’ve learned that we are passionate about writing, we know what it is going to take (persistence) we know that in the end we’ll have a polished story ready for submission. Now what do we do from here?

Well, we go over our work and fix it up for the editor. Hand him/her a polished piece of art so he can show it to the world and be proud of the choice they made in deciding to pick YOUR story for publication. But suppose they reject it?

Oh dear, I think this is what all writers fear the most and that is the face of rejection. For some reason a rejection from an editor makes us feel like somehow we’ve failed. That is what rejection has stood for all these years whether a parent rejects you, a boyfriend or anyone for that matter rejects you, you drink it down like a dose of failure. It has slapped you in the face and there is no medicine for the cure when you’re a writer. (There is no medicine PERIOD for rejection.)

When one strives so hard to succeed, we feel like failure has come over us like a dark soggy cloud draping its gloom over our head in the mirror of rejection. But as writer’s we NEED rejection. We need to be told that our work just isn’t up to par so we can work to make it better.
When a parent says, "Your best isn’t good enough." We will run and hide in our bedrooms and linger in self-doubt for ages, UNLESS we say to ourselves "My best IS good enough, but I can do even BETTER!"

This is what writer’s do when an editor tells them their work isn’t what they need. We writer’s seek out who DOES need our story, we make it so perfect that it squeaks like vinyl! Shiny and perfect our work is handed to the right person, at the right time, and is taken out of our hands and fed to the world like an ant on sugar. It has been bitten, liked, and now published.

Our walls become a place tacked with the art of rejection. With each new note, our collage grows and soon the entire wall is covered in rejection notes. But instead of looking at the wall as a wall of failure, see it as opportunity! It is a wall of chances to do better!

How many times do you think that a football player (or any sports player) said to themselves, "If I only had one more shot, just one more chance?" They don’t get the second chance that writer’s get. Their shot or play is FINAL! But in the writing world, rejection slips are our SECOND CHANCE!

So what are you waiting for? We’ve eliminated the fear, now on to our next rejection!

Happy Second Chances!