submission/rejection/dejection cycle
One of the things I noticed reading through the rejection/dejection posts is that some writers were discouraged because they have put a lot of effort into a project, and were getting rejection after rejection.
The advice from AWers was consistent - never give up, keep sending the material if you believe it's the best quality it can be and keep writing.
So for this thread, I've decided to share a strategy that helped me minimise the negative impact of the submission/rejection/dejection cycle. I have no way of knowing if it can help other people, so take the advise with a grain of salt and some pepper, if you need to.
What I decided to do was interrupt the cycle. It seemed to me that I had few projects to submit, because I spent so much time looking for new markets for the few projects I completed.
So I decided to spend a year writing prolifically(children's stories, non-fiction book proposals, personal essays, half finished novels) and not submitting any of it to publishers.
I saw it as developing a product line. I just wrote the best stories i could then put them away, to be fine-tuned later. If I got stuck on a project, i didn't stress about it. I moved onto something else.
I knew I would need to do additional work to get the work publisher- ready, but I was just under this white flame of creativity where i just wrote.
It was a creatively exhilerating experience, but worrying too because people would ask: "have I read anything you wrote recently" and I'd have to say no, I haven't published anything. Which makes them look at you strangely, because in their minds, writers are published and you can get their stuff at the local bookstore.
But the process worked for me. Now when I receive a rejection, I don't feel as if my future as a writer is over.
I may be dejected about the quality of the writing, especially if the editor comments on some issues that would improve the work and I know I should have done it before. But for every story that is rejected, there is another story that is accepted/ where I'm advised to do changes to improve it.
There are even instances where I get a rejection for one project and acceptance on another in the same week.
One of the things I noticed reading through the rejection/dejection posts is that some writers were discouraged because they have put a lot of effort into a project, and were getting rejection after rejection.
The advice from AWers was consistent - never give up, keep sending the material if you believe it's the best quality it can be and keep writing.
So for this thread, I've decided to share a strategy that helped me minimise the negative impact of the submission/rejection/dejection cycle. I have no way of knowing if it can help other people, so take the advise with a grain of salt and some pepper, if you need to.
What I decided to do was interrupt the cycle. It seemed to me that I had few projects to submit, because I spent so much time looking for new markets for the few projects I completed.
So I decided to spend a year writing prolifically(children's stories, non-fiction book proposals, personal essays, half finished novels) and not submitting any of it to publishers.
I saw it as developing a product line. I just wrote the best stories i could then put them away, to be fine-tuned later. If I got stuck on a project, i didn't stress about it. I moved onto something else.
I knew I would need to do additional work to get the work publisher- ready, but I was just under this white flame of creativity where i just wrote.
It was a creatively exhilerating experience, but worrying too because people would ask: "have I read anything you wrote recently" and I'd have to say no, I haven't published anything. Which makes them look at you strangely, because in their minds, writers are published and you can get their stuff at the local bookstore.
But the process worked for me. Now when I receive a rejection, I don't feel as if my future as a writer is over.
I may be dejected about the quality of the writing, especially if the editor comments on some issues that would improve the work and I know I should have done it before. But for every story that is rejected, there is another story that is accepted/ where I'm advised to do changes to improve it.
There are even instances where I get a rejection for one project and acceptance on another in the same week.
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