Just received a lovely R in the email

gina · May 27, 2005

I just received a rejection on a story I submitted to Clean sheets about ten days ago. Quick turn around which is a good thing. Guess this means I need to find another place to submit the story. I hate getting R's, but I know they are a part of the business. It shows you're trying.

shoshanna · May 29, 2005

Sorry but don't give up!!!!!

Did you yourself send it to a production company? If so, that may have been the problem. They take material more serious if it comes from a third party referral that has contacts in the industry.

I just got a job through a consulting firm whose lead consultants have firm industry contacts. It is just a staff writing job but it works. They are a really good consulting company with many services to writers. Check them out.

www.scriptwritershaven.com

LightShadow · May 30, 2005

Do they not allow simultaneous submissions? I'd rather get all of the "noes" out of the way before I'm old and gray.

blacbird · May 30, 2005

There's an unlimited supply.

bird

Odile · Oct 31, 2006

Does it help to participate in contests, to get many rejections, to get used to rejection?

Odile

Novelhistorian · Oct 31, 2006

I'm wary of contests. I think they're a waste of money, which could be better spent on laser paper for submitting manuscripts, useful books, or the occasional treat to yourself for, say, polishing that first draft.

But it does help not to take rejection personally. I don't know if I'll ever get used to it, exactly, but I do try to see that it's not me they're turning down. Keep the two things separate, and you'll player fewer head games with yourself.

And above all, don't give up. Send out that story right away.

Sury · Oct 31, 2006

Giving up is just not allowed in this business. Keep walking, Gina.

Good luck.

Sury

arkady · Nov 1, 2006

Novelhistorian said:
But it does help not to take rejection personally.

There are a lot of cliches handed to unpublished writers, but this is the one that seems to pop up the most frequently.

It doesn't matter whether a rejection is personal or not -- it's still a rejection. I know perfectly well that an agent is rejecting my query and not me, but it's irrelevant -- my query has still been rejected, and I'm still not published.

It isn't necessary to take them personally for rejections to rankle. There are plenty of perfectly legitimate reasons to get fed up with rejections without trying to be psychoanalytical and worry about whether you're taking it personally or not.

Odile · Nov 1, 2006

You're right about analyzing being just another trick for avoiding feelings...
but it seems to help me a lot...

Odile

Jamesaritchie · Nov 1, 2006

arkady said:
There are a lot of cliches handed to unpublished writers, but this is the one that seems to pop up the most frequently.

It doesn't matter whether a rejection is personal or not -- it's still a rejection. I know perfectly well that an agent is rejecting my query and not me, but it's irrelevant -- my query has still been rejected, and I'm still not published.

It isn't necessary to take them personally for rejections to rankle. There are plenty of perfectly legitimate reasons to get fed up with rejections without trying to be psychoanalytical and worry about whether you're taking it personally or not.

If a rejection rankles, it should be because you understand that what you wrote either wasn't good enough, or was sent to the wrong place. Both are your fault.

It isn't rejection a writer should get fed up with. What a writer should get fed up with is writing material that keeps getting rejected. This is always the writer's fault.

In this sense, a writer should take rejection personally. But it never does any good at all to let emotions become a part of rejection. It's not only amateurish, it's self-defeating.

Just received a lovely R in the email

gina

lost in the twilight zone

shoshanna

LightShadow

defender of the blahs!

blacbird

Odile

Novelhistorian

Sury

Word Worker

arkady

Odile

Jamesaritchie